Spaghetti all’assassina

With spaghetti all’assassina, we take you to Puglia to discover a tantalizing first course that has rightfully become part of the gastronomic tradition of Puglian cuisine. Born in the heart of Bari in 1967, thanks to Enzo Francavilla, chef of the restaurant “Al Sorso Preferito”, this dish is the result of a brilliant and impromptu idea: a customer asked for “something they had never eaten before” and Francavilla, with a few simple ingredients and the intuition to cook the pasta directly in the spicy sauce, created a humble, rustic yet ingenious dish. The result? An explosion of flavor that made history, becoming a traditional Bari recipe.

What makes these crispy spaghetti unique is cooking the pasta directly in the pan with the spicy tomato sauce: a technique that gives a light crust, enhancing the intense flavor of the chili pepper with a pleasant smoky note that has won over the people of Bari – and beyond.

Today, there are numerous competitions among restaurateurs who compete for the title of “best assassina” in the city. For us, this iconic recipe of “burnt spaghetti” was cooked by chef Michele Simplicio along with Michele Mastrorilli, owner of Gola Bistrot in Bari, who honored its authentic and flavorful soul by carrying on the original recipe of chef Francavilla with just one variation: using square spaghetti instead of traditional spaghetti or vermicelli.

These spicy spaghetti are a tasty and bold dish, perfect for those who love strong flavors and creative cuisine: a true declaration of love for chili peppers. And it is precisely this “killer” spiciness that gives rise to the recipe’s curious name: a nickname born as a joke, which perfectly describes the strong and ruthlessly delicious character of this Bari pasta!