Spaghetti all'Assassina

Method

1. Make the tomato broth first. In a 1.5 L pot, stir together the water, tomato paste, half the passata and the salt and bring to the boil over high heat, about 5 min. Turn it down to low heat and keep it barely simmering next to the stove: the broth must be hot when it hits the pan, or the pasta stops sizzling and won't char.

   Add in this stepWater (for the broth) 750 mlTomato paste 1½ tbspTomato passata 125 gSalt 1 tsp

   high heat→low heat

2. Set a heavy cast-iron or carbon-steel pan (28 cm) over medium heat. Don't use non-stick; it can't take this heat and nothing will catch. Add the olive oil, the lightly crushed garlic and the chillies broken in half, and cook for 1 min 30 sec until the garlic is pale golden and smells sweet. If it turns brown it will taste bitter.

   Add in this stepExtra-virgin olive oil 3 tbspGarlic cloves, lightly crushed 2Dried red chillies 1

   medium heat

3. Pour in the rest of the passata, standing back because it will spatter. Let it bubble over medium-high heat for 2 min, stirring, until it thickens a little and turns a deeper red. Fish out the garlic and chillies now if you want it milder.

   Add in this stepTomato passata 125 g

   medium-high heat

4. Lay the dry, uncooked spaghetti straight into the sauce in a single even layer; don't break them. Raise the heat to high heat and leave them alone for 2 min. You should hear a steady sizzle and see the sauce cling and start to catch on the bottom. Then turn them over with tongs.

   Add in this stepDried spaghetti (thick) 200 g

   high heat

5. Now cook them like a risotto: add one ladle of hot broth, let it hiss and evaporate almost completely, and only then add the next. Every couple of ladles, turn the spaghetti with tongs so the strands that touched the pan come up and fresh ones go down to scorch. Keep going over medium-high heat for about 13 min in total, until a strand bends but still feels firm in the centre when you bite it. You may not need all the broth.

   medium-high heat

6. Stop adding broth and let the pan go almost dry. Leave the spaghetti untouched over high heat for 2 min, flip them with tongs and give them the same time again. You want blackened, crunchy patches here and there and a sticky, concentrated coating on the rest. The char is the point, but if it smells acrid, lower the heat. Serve straight from the pan.

   high heat