Nadia Caterina Munno, a.k.a The Pasta Queen, isn’t just another food influencer. She’s a legit cook — carefully striking the balance between entertainment and authenticity via tips and techniques that could only originate from a girl who grew up in a Roman household of farmers and parents who owned a trattoria.
Her recent cookbook, The Pasta Queen: A Just Gorgeous Cookbook features 100+ stories and recipes that any novice or expert home cook could add to their growing repertoire. Today, we’re focused on one of Nadia’s personal favorites — the famously spicy “Assassin’s Spaghetti,” which has its own Academy in Italy, “patented” recipe, and a commissioned quality control monitor. Nadia generously disclosed her intimate knowledge of the dish with us; the special ingredients and unorthodox techniques involved. Make it this weekend and tag @UproxxLife on IG to share your results!
Let’s dive right into Assassin’s Spaghetti. What is the history behind the dish and what makes it special?
You know I actually got to meet with the president of the Assassin Spaghetti Academy, believe it or not.
That’s real?
Yeah, it’s a real thing. It was established about 12 years ago in the region of Puglia, specifically in Bari, the capital. Assasin’s spaghetti is a protected dish; it’s been registered and protected because it’s one of the most popular dishes in the entire world. It has to meet certain standards for it to be called a true Assassin’s spaghetti. It has the specific standards and the guy goes around and checks restaurants that are so-called Assassin Spaghetti and they have basically a license they give. They give you the Assassin license!
The first thing is that it has to be extremely spicy. The other thing is that Assassin’s spaghetti has to be a one-pot pasta dish made in risottata-style — it’s not pre-boiled. The spaghetti is burnt in a cast iron pan – it has to be cast iron. That technique is traditional because of the way the cast iron really creates that char on the spaghetti. It has to be crunchy, it HAS to be crunchy.
If it doesn’t crunch, once you bite into it, it’s not an Assassin spaghetti. Also, it has to be the perfect balance of sauce, it cannot be too saucy. It has to be a little bit dry, almost like you’re eating a spaghetto with tomato-base. Assassin’s Spaghetti has very reduced tomato and it has to be obviously charred.
Your recipe calls for long red chili peppers and Calabrian chili, Is there a good substitute?
Here in the US, I use the cayenne variety, it’s called Pinocchio because it’s really long and narrow – it kind of bends like Pinocchio’s nose. Extreme amounts of chili pepper are a must. Get the right type of chili pepper. Jalapenos are not an option.
Do you use fresh or dried pasta?
Dried pasta is the traditional way of making this specific spaghetti dish.
Are there specific tomatoes that you would recommend using?
Tomatoes? No, you have to use a passata and a broth with tomato paste in it. It’s a highly concentrated tomatoey spaghetto that cooks in the sauce and the entire spaghetto itself absorbs all the essence.
Are there any brands of tomatoes that you recommend, or prefer to use for the recipe?
I use Mutti because I really love their quality of tomatoes. They are not southern Italian tomatoes, they’re more from the center-north parts of Italy. I find their tomato base is really good. It’s also easily accessible in the US, you can get Mutti on Amazon; it’s not a specialty tomato. The San Marzano quality is also a good option. I come from that region so I’m always going to recommend San Marzanos.
What would you say is special about the Assassin’s Spaghetti other than the spice?
The texture is extremely creamy because of the starches from the pasta. The starch itself is an ingredient, it’s a thickening agent and starch is used in many different things like to thicken sauces. When you cook the pasta straight in the sauce, the starch all goes inside the sauce instead of the boiling water – that makes the sauce extremely thick and creamy. Dense and creamy, that’s the number one reason why you make it all in one pot.
The second thing is to get that char. You’ll never get the char — which is the only recipe in Italy that burns the spaghetti — if you just pre-cook the spaghetti. It has to stick to the bottom of the pan.
That’s also how you get the crunchy texture?
Yeah, you cannot move them about very much otherwise you’re going to interrupt the high temperature of the spaghetto at the bottom of the pot. You have to keep them in one position until you go with a spatula and feel the spaghetto, it should be kind of stuck to the pot. This recipe is maybe a little bit unorthodox for the typical pasta cook.
Is Assassin’s Spaghetti a dish that you would recommend to a beginner cook or to someone more advanced in pasta cookery?
I think that Assassin’s spaghetti is definitely not a beginner’s dish. It’s not a beginner dish because you’re going to end up overcooking or burning things too much. Watch a few of my videos over and over and buy my cookbook and then you can do it.
What would you say are some challenges when you’re making this dish and what are some things that people should look out for?
Excellent question. I think that getting the right size cast iron pan, one that fits the spaghetti lengthwise, so that it cooks all in one go, is very important. As opposed to either having to break the spaghetti, which is another enormous sin, okay? Or having the spaghetti stick out of the pan so that you have two cooking phases, which is going to mess up the dish.
What’s a good accompaniment to the dish? It sounds like it’s pretty fiery.
Don’t eat the dish if you can’t deal with the spice! You need to drink a nice southern Italian red wine with it. There’s no talk about water, water makes you rusty! I like a good southern Italian wine. In Puglia, there’s some incredible vineyards, obviously very artisanal. I always think when you eat the ingredients of a region, you need to sample the local wines.
What do you think about Italian cuisine in the United States?
I think that we are fortunate because America is so varied and there are so many Italians here and so many great Nonnas that have been keeping tradition alive, especially on the East Coast. I’ve seen a lot of huge Italian-American communities and there’s a lot of tradition. So there’s pockets where the food is still very authentic. The biggest misunderstanding that I’ve seen here is the versatility and the multitude of recipes that Italian pasta lends to.
When I came to America eight years ago, I found out there’s only really four or five shapes that are popular. There’s also always the same four dishes when you go to a restaurant that serves Italian dishes. You have Chicken Alfredo, which is not Italian. You have Cacio e Pepe with cream, which is not Italian. You have maybe some Bolognese, which is also kind of altered. Bolognese sauce is a registered sauce in the City Hall of Bologna, that’s why it’s called Bolognese and it needs to be made in a certain way. It’s cooked with milk, I have never seen that done in the United States. There’s a lot of authenticity and traditional recipes that are happening within Italian-American households, which are very different from what I’ve seen in restaurants. That’s why I do what I do. I love to educate.
Pasta Queen was born because I was nostalgic and wanted to keep my family’s legacy going and share my secret family recipes and the southern Italian style of living. Also, I realized how much people really wanted to know more about certain things or clarify things that they didn’t understand about our culture and our dishes.
Have you considered opening a restaurant or something in the United States so people can experience the food that’s in your cookbook?
Absolutely. I just announced the release of five pasta sauces, authentic Italian pasta sauces, that will be available across the nation. I spent a year and a half developing and importing with my food manufacturer partner. Italian authentic cheeses, wholesome ingredients like tomatoes, garlic, basil and olive oil. Everything that’s in my sauces is from Italy and it’s some of the cleanest sauce that you’ll find in the US.
How To Make Assassin’s Spaghetti
Ingredients:
• 3 tablespoons tomato paste
• Salt, to taste
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 fresh chili peppers, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 24 ounces tomato sauce
• 1 pound of spaghetti
Method:
• In a medium pot, bring 1 quart of water to a boil. When it reaches a boil, whisk in the tomato paste and a pinch of salt. Keep it over the heat at a simmer while you start the pasta.
• In a medium-sized cast iron skillet, add olive oil and set over a medium flame. Add garlic and chili peppers and let it sizzle for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the tomato sauce and let cook for 2 minutes, or until it reaches a simmer.
• Add spaghetti straight to the sauce, laying the noodles as close as possible to the bottom of the pan. Add some of the tomato paste broth to help to submerge the noodles.
• Without disturbing the spaghetti (this is very important to create the burnt layer), let cook, adding tomato broth as needed to ensure the spaghetti is permanently submerged, for about 5 minutes. Flip the pasta over (if done correctly, when you flip the pasta over, there will be a burnt layer on top).
• Continue cooking in the same way for about 5 more minutes, adding tomato broth as needed as the pasta dries out. Cook until the pasta is al dente, then plate and enjoy!
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Special thanks to Chef Alexandra Trischler for the support