Nearly sixty years old is the latest pasta recipe to captivate Italians: it is the Assassina created by Enzo Francavilla in 1967, deadly for the stratos of the chili pepper and the violence of the processes, which give the spaghetti an unprecedented texture and taste.
Cover photo: Getty Images- Shuttersock - Credits Bonchan
The story
Not everyone knows the true story of spaghetti all'assassina, a catchphrase of recent Italian cuisine, reinterpreted even by Mauro Uliassi. Their paternity is certain: they were born in 1967 from the flair of Enzo Francavilla, a chef born in Foggia in 1934, who went through the apprenticeships at Sarti and La Sirenetta, before taking over Sorso Preferito in Via Bozzi in Bari thanks to a 300,000 lire loan. Nothing more than three or four tables, two cylinder-fueled fires and a refrigerated counter for cold cuts and cheeses.
As gastronome Sandro Romano recounts in Pugliosità, Francavilla had recently opened and was in dire straits when a couple of passing Neapolitan customers asked him for a dish they had never tried. Looking around, he saw a bundle of spaghetti, tomato, chili and garlic. Hence the improvisation: a pasta cooked as he had never seen it done before, toasted and with a brûlé taste thanks to the flambéed tomatoes ("the joy of cooking") and burnt garlic.
When the young cook later asked the couple for their opinion on the recipe, their response was, "Son, these spaghetti are cannonballs, very good, however, they are assassins!" Hence the name of what became a specialty of the house, brought to the table for many years as a compliment, that is, an extra complimentary course at the end of the meal. Such was the success that the line began to wind in front of the sign, with VIPs on pilgrimage, from Callas to Eduardo de Filippo, signing a toque of 1,000 names, later stolen. Until the move to the current spaces on Via De Nicolò, sold after a few years.
There have been not a few misunderstandings encrusted over the years about the original recipe, for example, the risottatura with pasta toasting, transposed even by the Accademia dell'Assassina, or the use of a fictitious "tomato broth," obtained by diluting the concentrate. Sandro Romano's pairing is a rosé from primitivo or negroamaro, such as Alberto Longo's Donnadele, but Francavilla's advice is to drink only at the end, "because the spiciness burns and makes you thirsty, but if you drink you ruin everything."
SPAGHETTI ALL'ASSASSINA: THE RECIPE
Ingredients for 6 people
- 500 g of vermicelli spaghetti
- 500 g peeled tomatoes
- 5 cloves of garlic
- Fresh chili pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
Mash the tomatoes in a bowl with your hands and salt them.
Heat plenty of olive oil in an iron or nonstick skillet with the chili and peeled garlic. Let it burn and discard..
At this point quickly toss the crushed tomatoes into the oil, causing it to flame. Immediately cover with the lid, to extinguish the flame and retain the smoke, which will give the pasta its smoky aroma.
Separately, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and partially cook the vermicelli noodles in it until they bend. Drain them and transfer them to the sauce pan, cooking them without turning over a medium flame and adding more tomato if necessary, so that the sauce caramelizes by enveloping the pasta.
When this is slightly toasted, but not burned, polish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and serve.
