ALFREDO SAUCE

Italian Sauces

Ingredients

  • 1 pound fresh or good quality dry fettuccine
  • 1 pint heavy cream
  • 1 stick butter
  • 1 cup freshly grated Pecorino Romano or Parmesan cheese ( or mixed )
  • 2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • Splash of dry Sherry (never cook with anything you wouldn't drink)
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add fettuccine to boiling water, and cook until al dente; DO NOT over cook. Stir as soon as you drop the pasta, start the sauce and keep checking the pasta. If you are using fresh pasta, do not add it to the water until the sauce is done; it will only take a few minutes to cook. The rule of thumb is, when fresh pasta starts floating on the surface, it is done. So hold off on adding the pasta to the water until your sauce is almost done.

2. Add and melt the butter in a 12-inch sauté pan over medium heat then add the heavy cream. Stir constantly until it starts to thicken. Add egg yolk and continue stirring so the egg does cook in lumps. Add Sherry and stir. Add a hand full of cheese and parsley and stir again for a minute or so. Be a pro; put your finger in and taste it. PERFECT! If it thickens too much just add additional cream or a little milk just to loosen. Remove from heat but keep warm.

3. Drain pasta, if you haven't already done so, and transfer to sauté pan and toss. If your pan is to small, use a serving platter or bowl. Sprinkle with cheese and parsley and serve immediately.

4. When re-heating, add a wedge of butter on top before putting in microwave.

For options you can add sliced zucchini sautéed al dente or shrimp or prosciutto, etc.


If you ask for pasta with Alfredo sauce in most restaurants in Italy your waiter might look at you like you have 2 heads??? Now, if you ask for FETTUCCINE AL BURRO you might get what might be the original recipe. Italians make a fettuccine (tagiliatelle) pasta dish of with nothing else than good a parmigiano cheese and a lot of butter. It's so simple they don't even think of it as a recipe. Who then was Alfredo? Alfredo di Lelio, was a cook who proposed this dish in the restaurant he opened in Rome around 1915 "Alfredo all'Augusteo''. He created this dish for his wife lost her appetite during her pregnancy. Hoping To bring back her appetite, he prepared her a dish of egg tagiliatelle with parmigiano cheese and butter. He personally served his paper-thin fettuccine with golden forks, apparently donated to him by Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, the famous silent movie stars. The restaurant later saw the likes of actors such as Tyrone Power, Ava Gardner, Richard Burton, Liz Taylor, Sophia Loren, etc. A second story comes from a Mario Mozzetti who claims to be the owner of Alfredo alla Scrofa Restaurant in the same location. Mario states Fettuccine Alfredo, as we know it today, was created by his grandfather who purchased Alfredo alla Scrofa from Alfredo di Lelio in 1938. The enclosed recipe is what I served in my own restaurants and it's about as good as it gets. Either way, this will be "del'arte di mangiare bene. (the art of eating well) Buona Appetito, VINCENZO

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Submitted 9/14/05.
Source: SOUTH SIDE SOCIAL CLUB COOKBOOK
Submitted By: VINCENZO PAOLINO
vin.paolino@verizon.net
ALFREDO SAUCE