Spaghetti Assassina Recipe
An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott
Recipe Overview
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Serves: 2-3 people or 4 as primi dish
Ingredients Needed
- 800ml/28flozs vegetable, chicken or beef broth
- 130g/4.6ozs tomato paste
- 60ml/2flozs extra virgin olive oil
- 2-3 small chillies, finely chopped (3 if you like things really spicy!)
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
- Salt, pepper and sugar for seasoning
- 400ml/14flozs passata
- 300g/10.6ozs spaghetti
- 20g/0.7ozs butter
Step-By-Step Cooking Instructions
Preparing the Base
Step 1 - Whisk the broth with the tomato paste in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Keep on low heat to keep warm. Heat a large (at least 30cm/12inch) frying pan on medium heat that will fit in the whole length of spaghetti. Add the oil and fry the chillies and garlic for under a minute. Add the passata and place a lid on the pan and heat until simmering simmer. Season with salt, pepper and sugar (I use 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper). Then add the spaghetti into the simmering passata and coat all of the spaghetti with the passata. Cook for 3 minutes.
Caramelising the Pasta
Step 2 -Add the tomato broth in ladlefuls coating the pasta and adding more when it absorbs. It's important not to move the spaghetti too much at this stage. You can part the spaghetti a bit but try not to move it too much. The point is to keep it in place so that it caramelises. Keep adding broth and cooking the pasta on medium heat until it absorbs most of the broth and softens. It takes around 30 minutes total for the pasta to absorb and soften. About 25 minutes in you can lift up the pasta to check that it is becoming caramelised. Add butter in the last few minutes and melt to enrich the sauce. Then serve hot as is.
Personal Note
I'm sure you've all probably heard about the TikTok ban that might come into effect on January 18th and I'm actually really sad about that because I love TikTok and spend most of my time on there as a watcher. The algorithm is the best and unlike Instagram that seems intent on giving you exactly what you don't want, the TT one is so much better.
On the theme of assassins, I don't know about you Dear Reader but I am obsessed with the recent case of the alleged CEO Assassin Luigi Mangione. My Tiktok is all about videos of Luigi - so much so that I call it Luigi-tok. Like many on the internet, I lap up every little bit of Luigi lore. What are the chances that the CEO Assassin suspect is the most photogenic man alive? They cannot take a bad photo of this guy.
Every time I made this Spaghetti Assassina for Mr NQN I would call it my "Luigi spaghetti". So much so that now he asks if we are having Luigi spaghetti tonight!
So tell me Dear Reader, which is your favourite social media? Have you ever tried Spaghetti Assassina?