COOK: Assassin’s Spaghetti with Fresh Mozzarella Crema
- Assassin’s Spaghetti will Annihilate your Expectations
- How is Spaghetti all’Assassina Prepared?
- Fresh Mozzarella Crema, or Faux Stracciatella Cheese
- Assassin’s Spaghetti Recipe Ingredients
- Mozzarella Crema Ingredients
- Equipment Needed to Prepare Assassin’s Spaghetti
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Assassin’s Spaghetti will Annihilate your Expectations
Assassin’s spaghetti (or spaghetti all’assassina) is an unconventional, one-pot preparation that is a specialty of Bari, the capital of the Puglia region of Italy. The dish isn’t terribly old, but has garnered a cult following since the 1960’s or so, and has recently gathered new popularity. If you skip the dairy topping, this boldly flavored dish is vegan (though if you eat dairy, I recommend the cheese pairing, even if it isn’t traditional).
Spaghetti all’assassina actively breaks all the rules most of us were taught about preparing pasta… The result? Oh no, you died (and went to pasta heaven). And what a delicious death that would be! Hey, if you’ve gotta go, I can think of far worse ways (but you probably won’t actually die- the spaghetti though, that’s another story).
How is Spaghetti all’Assassina Prepared?
This dish gets its name because the spaghetti is brutally “murdered” by cooking dry pasta in a hot iron skillet instead of boiling it in salted water. Spaghetti all’assassina is lightly browned and caramelized in a peppery, zesty sauce of rich tomato, olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes.
The uncooked spaghetti is seared in a pan with the olive oil, tomato, and seasonings. Turn the pasta gently in the pan, leaving it to sear each time, until many of the strands are kissed with crunchy caramelized bits that add an unforgettable flavor and unique texture to your assassin’s spaghetti.
Then, a hot tomato broth “blood” is ladled into the pan a little bit at a time. If you’ve ever made a risotto, you should be familiar with this “pasta risottata” technique. Cooking the pasta this way gives it a unique texture, flavor, and mouthfeel.
As the pasta absorbs the liquid and sauce, a little more liquid is added at a time around the edges of the pan. The starch in the pasta will thicken the sauce as the pasta cooks. Continue adding ladles of tomato broth until the sauce reduces and the spaghetti is perfectly al dente. Your spaghetti all’assassina will be swathed in the bright flavor of the sauce, both inside and out. Mama mia!
Fresh Mozzarella Crema, or Faux Stracciatella Cheese
This recipe pairs the spicy assassin’s spaghetti, sauteed in chili garlic oil and simmered with a caramelized tomato sauce, with a dollop of cool fresh mozzarella crema on top. The crema is an approximation of stracciatella cheese, and easy to make from common ingredients.
Stracciatella cheese is better known by most of us as the luscious creamy center of pulled curds inside a ball of burrata. If you can get it, you can use that, but most of us aren’t lucky enough to have some on hand.
The mozzarella crema is made quickly with a ball of fresh mozzarella, roughly chopped and shredded in a food processor. You blend the cheese along with a splash of heavy cream or half and half and season it with a bit of Parmesan cheese and a hint of freshly grated nutmeg.
You’ll want a food processor to make this component, although you could chop and shred the cheese by hand and fold in the other ingredients. If you’re really ambitious, you could make some stracciatella cheese from scratch, but that’s beyond the scope of this recipe!
This rich, creamy topping is a perfect contrast to take the edge off the spicy heat from the red chiles and the sharp burnt tomato notes of the sauce of this aggressively-flavored spaghetti dish. It’s optional, but adds a lot to the pasta and rounds out the more staccato flavors!
You could also top your assassin’s spaghetti with a dollop of fresh whole milk ricotta, or a small ball of burrata cheese, or just enjoy it plain as a vegan dish that is anything but bland.
Assassin’s Spaghetti Recipe Ingredients
Olive Oil:
Use a good quality fruity or spicy extra virgin olive oil here for best flavor. Don’t be skimpy- you need a generous drizzle of oil in the pan and sauce to sear the pasta, and to flavor the dish and add richness.
Garlic:
Fresh garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced or carefully chopped.
Red Pepper Flakes:
Use a good quality dried red pepper flake, or chopped hot red Italian chili peppers if you have access to them. If you have a garden, you can grow your own Calabrian chiles, red ripe peperoncini, or other heirloom varieties of Italian hot peppers (post-Columbian exchange, of course… no peppers are truly Italian, since they’re a New World crop, but then, neither are tomatoes, and can you imagine Italian food without tomato sauce?).
Adjust the amount of these to your heat preference, and to the spiciness of your particular chilies or chili flakes. We use a whole tablespoon of dried chili flakes, but we like it hot! You probably want to start with a teaspoon or maybe two, unless you’re also a fan of spicy food.
Spaghetti:
Good quality raw, uncooked spaghetti is the foundation of this unconventional dish. Use a good quality Italian spaghetti, if you can get it, with the following caveat… Some aficionados say not to use bronze-die extruded pasta for this dish, as the additional starch on the surface of the noodles can interfere with browning the pasta.
Do not use fresh pasta- this recipe only works with dried semolina pasta. You can use spaghetti, thin spaghetti, or even angel hair pasta.
Tomato:
You’ll need canned or bottled tomato passata or tomato puree, and tomato paste or tomato concentrate. You can substitute peeled, seeded, and pureed or strained fresh paste-type tomatoes (like Roma or San Marzano) for the canned passata, though that’s a lot more work!
You won’t need a whole can of tomato paste unless you are making a bigger batch, but you can freeze the rest. I like to freeze extra tomato paste in a plastic container in one tablespoon dollops (or on a silicone mat on a cookie sheet, then peel off the dollops and store them in a zip-lock bag). You can also use the kind in a metal tube, which stays fresh for awhile in the fridge even after it’s opened.
Mozzarella Crema Ingredients
Fresh Mozzarella:
A ball of fresh mozzarella, ideally whole milk or buffala mozzarella if you can get it.
Half and Half or Cream:
Heavy cream adds a lovely richness to the mozzarella crema if you have it, though a splash of half and half will do. You could use whole milk in a pinch but it won’t be quite as nice.
Parmesan cheese:
This adds a nutty, piquant note to the mozzarella crema that I think is quite nice. You could also use grated Romano cheese. You can omit this if you like or if you are making a vegan version.
Nutmeg:
Freshly grated nutmeg is absolutely worth the trouble, if you have it or can get whole nutmegs. I don’t even buy the pre-ground kind anymore. A whole nutmeg goes a LONG way, and stays fresh much longer than the ground spice.
Use a microplane or other fine grater to shave a dusting off the whole nutmeg into the crema when you blend it. For an extra special touch, grate a very light dusting on top of the mozzarella crema when you are plating the dish. Less is more and a little goes a long way, though!
Equipment Needed to Prepare Assassin’s Spaghetti
Heavy saute pan:
A heavy cast iron pan or dutch oven will help get a good caramelization on the pasta and tomato without burning either the spaghetti or the sauce. Ideally, the pan should be wide enough to hold the spaghetti end-to-end without breaking it. You want as much of the pasta in contact with the pan as possible while it cooks for the best flavor and texture.
Medium sauce pot:
It’s best to heat the water and tomato paste up to a low boil and then keep it at a simmer. Then, ladle it slowly into your cooking assassin’s spaghetti, adding a little more at a time as the liquid is absorbed into the pasta.
You could also use a large Pyrex measuring cup or other microwave safe container to heat your “tomato blood” in the microwave before adding it slowly into the sauce. Be very careful of “surges” or boil-overs when you stir the mixture, or when you remove it from the microwave oven!
Food Processor:
If you are making the mozzarella crema, you’ll want a food processor. You could chop and tear the fresh mozzarella into fine strands by hand, but that would be a lot of work!
I wouldn’t use a blender, as you don’t want a perfectly smooth puree. You could make it work with a blender in a pinch by roughly chopping the cheese, then carefully pulsing the ingredients just until they are broken up.
Tongs or Spatula & Ladle:
You’ll want sturdy heat-resistant tongs or a spatula to turn and stir your pasta. You will also need a ladle or measuring cup with a handle to add the simmering hot water and tomato paste mixture around the edges of the pan as the pasta cooks.
Assassin's Spaghetti, or Spaghetti all'Assassina, with Fresh Mozzarella Crema
Ingredients
Fresh Mozzarella Crema
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella
- ¼ cup half and half or heavy cream
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- ⅛ tsp nutmeg, grated preferably freshly grated, but ground is ok
Spaghetti all'Assassina
- 4-5 cups water
- 4 tbsp tomato paste
- 16 oz dry spaghetti thin spaghetti or angel hair pasta also works
- ¼-⅓ cup olive oil
- 3-6 cloves garlic, thinly sliced or chopped
- 1-3 tsp red pepper flakes 1 tbsp/3 tsp makes a very spicy sauce
- 28 oz tomato passata or puree tomato sauce can be substituted
- 1 tbsp sugar
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a medium saucepot or microwave safe container, heat one quart of water to a low simmer, and dissolve the tomato paste in the water. You may need an additional cup of hot water to cook the pasta through, but start with four cups. Season with a pinch of salt, and keep hot.
- In a large heavy iron saute pan or dutch oven, heat the olive oil until shimmering and lightly fragrant (don't burn the oil).
- Saute the red pepper flakes and sliced or chopped garlic, stirring or shaking the pan constantly for 30-45 seconds on high heat. I use a whole tablespoon of pepper flakes, but we like spicy food. You probably want to start with less if you aren't sure- you can always add more but you can't take them out!
- Add between ⅓ and ½ of the tomato passata/puree/sauce and the spoonful of sugar, and continue to stir and carefully shake the pan. You want to heat the sauce through and begin to caramelize it a bit. Keep the heat high and keep stirring the sauce or keep the pan moving.
- Add all of the spaghetti, pressing it into the bottom of the pan with your tongs or spatula. You want very high heat for this part, and a bit of finesse. You want to crisp the bottom of the pasta before stirring or flipping it, without burning it completely. This will take a bit of time, so be patient- if you stir it constantly you won't get the nice seared bits that add to the flavor and texture of the dish.
- When you have turned the pasta over and through the sauce several times, and the sauce is beginning to dry out, you can add the rest of the tomato passata around the edges of the pan, or anywhere the pan is beginning to burn.
- Once the sauce has thickened and the pasta is becoming pliable, begin gradually adding the simmering water/tomato paste broth. Ladle in a bit at a time around the edges, or onto hot-spots in the pan. Turn and stir the pasta as you add the liquid to the pan so that it rehydrates evenly. You can reduce the heat or adjust it if needed to keep it sizzling without burning or scorching too much.
- Taste the pasta as you incorporate the liquid. It will have a different mouthfeel than regular boiled spaghetti, but should still be tender and completely hydrated. Crispy outside is ok, but crunchy middles are not. I usually end up adding an additional cup or so of hot water after adding the full quart of tomato broth, but this can vary based on the thickness of your pasta, how much you reduce your tomato sauce, and how much liquid is in the passata or tomato sauce. You want the sauce nice and tight though, so don't make it too soupy! Just add a little bit at a time until it's perfect.
- Plate the pasta (twirl it on tongs or a carving fork , then transfer to a preheated bowl for a neat presentation). Top with a dollop of crema, a grating of Parmesan cheese, or a sprinkle of hot pepper flakes.
Mozzarella Crema (Faux Stracciatella)
- Tear or roughly chop the ball of mozzarella, or pulse it a few times in your food processor.
- Add the other ingredients (cream, parm, nutmeg) and continue to pulse until you have a spoonable mixture, but that still has discrete bits of curd and texture. You aren't making a smooth puree, so don't overmix.
- Refrigerate any leftovers promptly and use within 3-5 days. You can also freeze this, though the texture can be a bit grainy or watery when it thaws- it's best to make it fresh and use it up!