Spaghetti all'Assassina

Recipe notes

Stay with the pan

This isn’t a set-and-forget recipe. As the pasta cooks, the sauce reduces and everything wants to stick to the pan. That’s the point, but you need to keep an eye on it to get crispy edges without burning.

Add the water splash by splash

Don’t add all the water at once. You want the pasta cooked through at the same time the sauce has reduced, without the pasta overcooking or the sauce ending up too wet. Adding small amounts as you go is the only way to get that balance.

Use boiling water

Make sure the water you add is boiling or very hot. Cool or lukewarm water drops the temperature of the pan, slows the cooking and stalls the frying, which makes it much harder to get those crispy edges.

Storage

This is best eaten straight away, as the crispy edges soften once it sits. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat in a hot pan with a splash of water, letting it catch on the base again to bring back some of the crispiness.

Ingredient notes

Spaghetti

Use a standard dried spaghetti rather than a thin variety. It needs to handle about 15 minutes of stirring and scraping in the pan, and thinner pasta tends to overcook and break apart before the crispy edges have time to form.

Tomato paste and passata

The tomato paste goes into the hot oil for 30 seconds, which cooks out its raw taste and deepens the flavour. The passata becomes the cooking liquid for the pasta. The natural sugars in both are what caramelise and stick to the base of the pan, so they’re where most of the flavour comes from. Use a smooth passata without added herbs or seasoning.

Chilli flakes 

Chilli is a big part of this dish, so 2 teaspoons gives it a good kick. The flakes go into the cold oil with the garlic and warm through together, which carries the heat through the whole sauce. If you prefer it milder, start with 1 teaspoon. You can add a pinch more at the end, but you can’t take it out.