Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Alfredo. Alfredo. Alfredo

Kitchen Daily ~ Fettuccine Alfredo with Zucchini




Happy Fettuccine Alfredo Day!!! 

   An Alfredo sauce is one of the most versatile sauces that one can learn how to make and extremely easy too. You can have it with fresh or frozen vegetables, with chicken, steak or seafood. You can even customize the recipe to add more or less cheese and butter to make it as creamy and rich as you like. 
 In effort to continue with the my resolution of trying to eat and cook healthier meals I have made a few changes to the traditional Alfredo recipe that uses lots of heavy cream and butter and made a few substitutions like low fat milk less butter (there is not real substitute for the flavor of butter in my view.)
   


Narragansett Creamery Herb & Garlic Angelito
Basic garlic and Herb Alfredo Sauce:
 1 tablespoon of Sommer Maid Unsalted Butter
 1 teaspoon of  fresh lemon zest
 2 teaspoons of all purpose flour
 1 cup of Low Fat Munroe Dairy Milk
 2 tablespoons of Narragansett Creamy Garlic & Herb Angelito Cheese
 3/4 cup of grated Narragansett Creamery Atwells Gold Cheese
 Sea Salt & Pepper to Taste
12 ounces of Fresh Fettuccine or 1 lb of Dried Fettuccine Pasta

 Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fettuccine and cook until al dente ( having a slight snap left to the pasta.) Once the pasta is cooked strain and drizzle with olive oil to prevent clumping. Reserve a cup of the pasta water and set aside to cool. 

 In a large skillet melt the butter over medium heat, careful not to brown or burn. Add the lemon zest cook for 1 minute until you smell the scent of lemon. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon, cook for about one minute or until you smell a slightly nutty scent. Using a whisk introduce the milk slowly stirring the constantly to prevent scalding. Once the sauce has begun to thicken, about three minutes, add the salt & pepper, Angelito Cheese and Atwells Gold Cheese. Continue whisking until the cheese is melted and fully combined. 

 Add the pasta to the skillet using a pasta fork or kitchen tings to mix. If the needed add a bit of pasta water to the Alfredo to loosen the pasta.

  If you want to add fresh veggies like zucchini ribbons, peas, or broccoli add them in after the Angelito and Atwells Gold. 
 As for meat you can cook in the  pan before hand and setting it aside to be re introduced after the cheese has  melted. Do not clean the pan between cooking the meat and the sauce, leaving the little bits of meat for flavor to cook into the sauce. Add the meat to the sauce after the  cheese has melted and the before adding the pasta.