Spaghetti all’Assassina

Charred to Perfection: Spaghetti all’Assassina

This pasta is cooked risotto-style and you want the bottom to get charred, a little bit of that smokey flavor. Most pasta is delicate but this one is built different.

We start with the risottatura method. Usually pasta gets dropped into a big pot of boiling water and drained. But not here. In this dish, the pasta is cooking directly in the pan like risotto: add a little warm liquid at a time, stir, let it absorb, then add more. The starch doesn’t get rinsed away. It stays in the sauce. You’re adding liquid little by little — water, tomato, starch — and stirring. What you want is a little crust at the bottom of the noodle for texture.

The ingredients are simple. A little tomato paste and sliced garlic for depth. A couple chilis to keep things awake. The sauce bubbles, the starches release, the sugars caramelize. The real key to this dish is New York City tap water though.

We’re using pasta from our friends at Gustiamo in BX, shout out to the squad. They always come through with the good stuff. Gustiamo got it.

This is Chef P on Pasta Planet. We got carbs.

INGREDIENTS

Salt
A packet of spaghetti
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1–2 dried chilis or Calabrian chilis (to taste)
Parmesan, for grating
Olive oil to drizzle

CHOP IT UP

Grab a small pot and fill it with water over medium heat. Dump in a couple tablespoons of tomato paste. Stir until the paste dissolves into a loose, red broth.

Get a wide pan over medium heat. Add a glug of olive oil and warm it up. Throw in your thinly sliced garlic and a couple dried chilis for heat. Let everything get fragrant. The garlic should just start to toast.

No boiling first. Drop your dry spaghetti straight into the pan. This is where we get a little fancy with the risotto method. Add hot water a ladle at a time and watch the sauce thicken into that glossy, saucy dream. Turn up the heat and don’t touch it. Let the bottom crisp up and caramelize. That’s what gives this dish a little kick. You’ll smell it before you see it.

Serve it up, scraping all that crunchy crust from the bottom of the pot into your bowl. Garnish with parmesan.