In Bari, a port city in Puglia on the Adriatic Sea lives a spaghetti dish like no other. This unique dish has an intriguing technique and an even more intriguing name. Spaghetti All'assassina or ‘Killers spaghetti’ is a dish that is native to this area and although you can recreate it at home, the word on the street is that the only authentic way to try it is to go to Bari and eat it there.
Though it may sound like it, the name doesn’t actually refer to any criminal activity, but rather the cooking technique used to make it. It’s called risottatura and means to cook pasta the way you would cook risotto. So instead of boiling the spaghetti, it’s cooked in a dry pan and water is added each time the pasta absorbs it.
This dish was said to have been invented at the end of the 1960s at a restaurant called Al Sorso Preferito in Bari. The owners supposedly found the written recipe in the restaurant when they bought it and decided to try it out. The dish is a local treasure and the people of Bari are very proud of it with experts and enthusiasts holding monthly meetings that centre around the dish.
One must-have when cooking this – they decided – was a sturdy black iron pan that should never be washed, only cleaned with a dry newspaper to maintain its oily coating. This helps achieve the burnt finish on the pasta that gives it its signature crispiness.
Ingredients
- 320 gm spaghetti or vermicelli
- 400 gm tomato puree
- 1-2 tbsp tomato paste
- 100 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- ½ tbsp chilli flakes or 1 fresh red peperoncini chilli
- 1-2 tsp sugar
- Salt and pepper to taste
Method
- Peel the garlic and chop 1-2 cloves finely. If using a fresh red chilli cut into small pieces.
- Into a pot with around 200 ml of water add ⅔ of the tomato passata, the tomato paste and salt, and bring to a boil and simmer.
- Meanwhile in a cast iron pan add ½ cup of olive oil, 2 garlic cloves (one whole one chopped), and the red chilli or flakes.
- Cook over a high flame until golden then remove the whole garlic clove and pour in the ⅓ of undiluted tomato purée.
- To temper the acidity from the tomatoes the sugar.
- Spread the puree over the whole pan with a wooden spoon and let it reduce and thicken.
- Now add the uncooked spaghetti to the pan and spread it out over the sauce.
- Wait for the bottom to start browning before flipping the noodles over carefully.
- At this point put the uncooked spaghetti in the pan, distributing the pasta a way that it lies on top
- When the other side has also started browning pour in a spoon of the tomato broth.
- Stir to loosen any parts stuck to the pan and when the broth has reduced, add another spoon.
- Keep repeating this until the spaghetti is cooked and coated in sauce.
- Serve hot with a sprinkle of parmesan.
