There are simple pasta dishes, and then there are those that barely require a recipe yet hit all the right notes of delicious.
“A little bit of olive oil and melted Parmesan cheese is a wonderful thing,” says Elton Hyndman, Nino’s chef and owner.
Hyndman is known for adding his spin with seasonal and local ingredients to Italian classics like Puttanesca and Carbonara at the Bluebonnet Boulevard restaurant. In every dish, each ingredient shines, and it’s never so overly sauced that you forget about the joys of the homemade pasta underneath.
Early on in his Nino’s days, Hyndman experimented with making a variety of pasta shapes for the menu. His wife was the guinea pig, and he needed a simple pasta sauce for all of her taste tests. Time and again, he turned to Spaghetti Peperoncino.
Olive oil, garlic, shallot, salt and pepper and as much crushed red pepper as you like: That’s basically it. Those ingredients also make up what Hyndman calls “the big six” at Nino’s. “Almost all of my pasta dishes start with that, and then we add the other ingredients and it will take off in different directions.”
The cooking time for Peperoncino is quick—only around 30-45 seconds, not counting boiling the water for the pasta. “My mentor chef when I was living in New Mexico, this is what we’d eat for lunch because it’s the fastest thing you can make,” Hyndman says. “This is line-cook food.”
It’s also easy for a late-night meal to impress your friends when you’re all in need of something quick. Add veggies or salty meat to round out the dish—Hyndman used sliced chorizo for our photo shoot—but it’s still pretty satisfying on his own. ninos-italian.com
SPAGHETTI PEPERONCINO
Servings: 2
12 ounces by volume spaghetti
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 tablespoons sliced shallot
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper (add more to your tastes)
½ cup grated Parmesan
More Parmesan and basil to garnish
1. In a large pot of boiling water, cook the spaghetti to just al dente. 2. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, stir the garlic, shallot and seasonings in the olive oil until fragrant, around 30-45 seconds. If the skillet starts to brown, deglaze with a little white wine (see our tips) and turn off the heat. 3. Using tongs, remove the spaghetti from the boiling water, add it directly to the skillet (no need to drain) and toss. 4. Add a half-cup of the pasta water to the skillet along with the grated Parmesan. Toss again until the cheese is incorporated. 5. Plate and garnish with more Parmesan and sliced ribbons of basil.
Hyndman’s Tips:
• Make use of the pasta water: It will help thicken it.
• Get creative with additional ingredients: “If you want, you can put vegetables in there, spinach or any other meat that you want to, like chorizo. It’s a dish that can go anywhere.”
• Pair it with wine: “The easiest thing to say is to use a chianti, but a good French-style pinot noir would go with all the spicy flavors in there.”
Our tips:
• Prep and cook your ingredients while the water boils. In the time it takes to cook the pasta, the sauce is ready.
• Watch the garlic so it doesn’t burn.
• Deglazing the pan with white wine or any alcohol will make it flame up. If you aren’t practicing for Iron Chef, or, like us, don’t want to set off the smoke detectors, turn the stove off before adding the wine. It will still boil and deglaze the pan, just without the fancy pyrotechnics.
Click here to read more from our Kitchen Confidential cover story.
This article was originally published in the December 2017 issue of 225 Magazine.
Hyndman is known for adding his spin with seasonal and local ingredients to Italian classics like Puttanesca and Carbonara at the Bluebonnet Boulevard restaurant. In every dish, each ingredient shines, and it’s never so overly sauced that you forget about the joys of the homemade pasta underneath.
