Italy's most bizarre pasta recipe! This fried pasta recipe comes from Bari, Puglia in Italy. It originated in the 1960’s, but is now considered traditional for the region. Spicy, crispy and bloody red. The Killer Spaghetti (a.k.a. Spaghetti all'Assassina) is Italy's hottest pasta dish around.
1 large non-stick skillet —14” (36 cm) at least best: seasoned carbon steel or cast iron
Ingredients
5 ½oztomato puree
5ozconcentrated tomato paste
5cupswater
3clovesfresh garlic2 whole and 1 minced
½cupolive oilextra virgin
1wholefresh red chili pepperminced; or to taste
14ozspaghetti
2pinchesfine saltor to taste
1pinchgranulated sugar(optional)—to sweeten tomatoes if the product is too acidic
Instructions
Choose the Right Pan
This recipe requires that the pasta slowly cook from start to finish in the skillet.Ideally you’ll want to use a pan that is a minimum size of 14” or 36 cm. A seasoned cast iron or carbon steel pan is the pan that the official group overseeing the tradition of this recipe recommends.
If you need to use a smaller pan, you’ll want to break the dry pasta to fit it in the pan.
Make the Tomato Broth
Combine the water with the tomato paste to make tomato broth. Add 2 pinches of fine salt and mix well. Bring the broth to simmer. In the meantime…
5 oz concentrated tomato paste, 5 cups water, 2 pinches fine salt
Sauté the Garlic and Pepper
Mince one clove of garlic and leave the other cloves whole.
3 cloves fresh garlic
Mince one fresh chili pepper after removing the seeds.
1 whole fresh red chili pepper
Cover the bottom of your skillet or pan with all of the olive oil and bring to medium heat. Add the garlic and pepper and sauté them until the garlic begins to turn golden.
½ cup olive oil
Fry the Pasta
Add the tomato purée to the pan with the flavored oil. Give it a stir and reduce for a minute.
5 ½ oz tomato puree, 1 pinch granulated sugar
Add the dry (uncooked) spaghetti) in an organized single layer across the pan. Raise the heat to medium and ‘fry’ the pasta until it is golden (not burnt). This takes about a minute.
14 oz spaghetti
Using thongs or a spatula, carefully flip the pasta to fry the other side. The pasta will still be stiff, so be careful to avoid breaking the strands.
Give the pasta one more careful flip. Then, start adding the tomato broth!
Slowly Cook the Pasta
Add 3 ladles of hot tomato broth to the pan with the pasta. At this point, we want to slowly cook the pasta like a risotto.
Wait for the broth to reduce, and listen for the ‘sizzle.’ What you are hearing is the pasta starting to fry again and sticking to the bottom of the pan. So, when you hear the ‘scream’ of the sizzle, add a few more ladles of broth and repeat!
Continue adding broth as needed until the pasta is cooked to ‘al dente’—adding a few more ladles of broth each time you hear the pasta 'scream'.
Once the pasta has softened up, stir as needed to keep the pasta from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
You’ll probably need a bit more cooking time than what is written on the package instructions. However, it’s best to set the timer to the ‘al dente’ time and taste at that point to see if the pasta is done.Don’t expect the exact same texture as a normally cooked ‘al dente’ pasta! This pasta will be a bit chewer due to the way it is prepared. Buon appetito!
Video
Notes
Seasoned Pans Prevent StickingDue to the way this pasta is ‘fried’ and then slowly cooked in a risotto-fashion in the pan, a seasoned pan that is naturally non-stick is important for getting the right result.Not traditional, but more flavorful!We’ve tried various versions of this recipe. In our opinion, using 3 cups of sweet tomato purée with 2 cups of water to make the tomato broth results in an even tastier dish!But… it’s browned!The traditional calls for you to decide how many ‘crispy’ strands of pasta you want. Italians, like people all around the world, enjoy the crispy crust that forms on re-heated pasta, oven baked pasta, etc. This pasta is considered a real treat because it takes that idea to the next level. You want to avoid browning (very many) strands of the pasta, but some browned pieces are expected and wanted here!