Spaghetti all’Assassina is a Bari speciality made with tomato, garlic and chilli. We follow the version recognized as a PAT of Puglia, finishing the spaghetti in an iron pan until some strands become charred and crisp.
Place the peeled tomatoes in a bowl and crush them with your hands until roughly broken down. Add a little salt and set aside.
Choose an iron pan wide enough to hold the spaghetti lengthways. Pour in enough extra virgin olive oil to coat the bottom with a generous layer, then add the garlic cloves and fresh chilli. Let them sizzle until the garlic becomes quite dark without burning, then remove the garlic.
Lower the heat slightly and carefully add the crushed tomatoes to the pan. Stir and cook for a few minutes, until the tomato begins to reduce.
Bring plenty of water to the boil, then add the salt. Add the spaghetti, but do not wait for it to cook: it should stay in the water only until it becomes flexible enough to bend without breaking. Drain immediately and reserve the cooking water, as you may need some to finish cooking the spaghetti in the pan.
Transfer the spaghetti to the pan and spread it through the tomato. Continue cooking over high heat, turning the spaghetti so the sauce reaches all the strands. If the bottom becomes too dry, add a very small amount of the reserved cooking water at a time, waiting for it to be absorbed before adding more.
Taste a strand. When the spaghetti is cooked but still firmly al dente, stop adding water and allow the bottom of the pan to dry. The spaghetti will continue cooking for another few minutes while the charred sections form.
Once the bottom of the pan is dry, stop moving the spaghetti constantly. Leave it in contact with the pan long enough for some sections to char and become crisp, then turn it so other areas can do the same.
The spaghetti should not all char in the same way. Some strands should remain softer while others become deeply toasted and crisp. Serve immediately.
Servings 4
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
The amount of extra virgin olive oil is not fixed in the PAT recipe. Use enough to create a generous coating over the bottom of the pan without submerging the ingredients. For this reason, the stated calorie count is also an estimate and will vary according to the amount of oil used.
The iron pan is important for developing the characteristic char of Spaghetti all’Assassina. It should be wide enough to hold the spaghetti lengthways once softened. When the bottom begins to dry, do not rush to turn the pasta. Give some of the strands enough time in contact with the iron to brown before moving them.
Adjust the chilli to your taste, but do not leave it out entirely. The heat is part of the identity of the dish and is also tied to the story behind its unusual name.
If you have seen Spaghetti all’Assassina being made before, you may notice something different about our recipe. It is not a mistake: we followed the preparation used as the reference for Puglia’s PAT (Traditional Agri-Food Product) recognition.
You probably know the Assassina where dry spaghetti goes straight into the pan. Here, however, the spaghetti sees boiling water for just a few moments: as soon as it becomes flexible enough to bend, it is drained and moved to the iron pan with the tomato. That is how the preparation is described in the PAT documentation.
👉 So where did the Assassina cooked entirely in the pan come from? We looked into its story.