Pasta…you don’t have to be Italian to have tried it. Everyone knows it and has had it in some form or another. You walk down the pasta isle at the grocery store and there are row after row of the stuff calling out for you to boil them, stuff them and most importantly slather them in some sort of sauce. The thing with pasta however, is that for me it can go two ways. The first: it is a filler, cheap and easy, not much taste fills a void and any 18 year old freshman can boil a pot of water, stick spaghetti noodles in it and heat up a jar of sauce and call it a meal. Fine, great, nothing special but will do. When pasta is done right though, we are talking about the sauces with fresh herbs that take hours to simmer and use yummy (an not always so good for you) ingredients now that is the pasta worth sitting down to.
Red vs. white sauce is always the debate in our family, I usually lean red but my husband leans white so I headed out in search of a really good alfredo sauce and I can tell you this is it. Oh and the bonus is that it is really fast, no long hours of simmering here. This is the recipe that we judge all other alfredos against, even at the fancy Italian restaurants with the drippy candles and the chefs with thick Italian accents, thus titled The Good Alfredo. The alfredo sauce at some of these places some come close but we really haven’t found one we like better and the bonus is that it is a lot cheaper to make it yourself than to have Mr. thick accent make it for you. Try it, you be the judge. This is awesome on your pasta of choice, great for breadstick dipping and really good for a base on an alfredo pizza. Another yummy tip is to mix it half and half with your favorite red sauce for a slightly different spin on dinner and in my house to make everyone happy. Enjoy!
{THE GOOD ALFREDO}
1/2 c. plus 1 T. butter
1-2 cloves garlic
1/2 c. cream cheese - at room temperature
2/3 c. shredded parmesan cheese
1 c. canned milk (or you can use cream)
3/4 T. dried parsley
*salt and pepper to taste
*Fresh grated parmesan cheese
In large sauce pan melt the 1 Tb. butter and then add the garlic. Sauté this about 30 seconds on led heat and then add the rest of the butter and the cream cheese. Melt over low heat, stirring constantly until both have totally melted. Next add the shredded parmesan cheese and stir until well combined. Then slowly add the canned milk (or cream) and stir constantly until the mixture thickens. Put in the dried parsley and salt and pepper to taste. If putting on pasta mix with pasta and then put freshly grated parmesan cheese on top just before serving.
Top on any kind of pasta, use it for a base of pizza or calzones or as a dip for breadsticks. It stores well in the fridge, but gets thick. Add a little more canned milk to reconstitute when re-heating.
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