Plan a 4th of July Menu With All of Your Family's Cookout Favorites
Are You Making Fettuccine Alfredo The Right Way?
Milk Street's new cookbook, "Backroads Italy," shares how the American version lost its way. #newdaynw
SEATTLE —
FETTUCCINE ALFREDOStart to finish: 30 minutes
Made the Italian way, fettuccine Alfredo bears little resemblance to the unctuous, cream-based pasta dish that's popular in the U.S. We scoured Italy for the best versions, and our favorite was prepared by Francesca Guccione in Castelnuovo di Porto, just outside Rome. Rich, luxurious and elegant but neither heavy nor cloying, Guccione's fettuccine Alfredo, like other Roman recipes for the dish, consists of only fresh pasta, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, butter and salt.
The secret lies in using high-quality ingredients and combining them in just the right way, and just the right volumes. We adapted her winning formula but incorporated a technique we saw employed at a couple of restaurants, putting softened butter (rather than melted) into the bowl in which the hot pasta will be tossed. Of utmost importance is the cheese. Purchase a hefty chunk of true Parmigiano-Reggiano—not the pre-shredded stuff—trim off the rind (save it for simmering into soups and stews), cut 6 ounces into rough ½-inch pieces and whir them in a food processor until very finely ground. This helps ensure the cheese melts readily. High-fat butter is also key. In Europe, butter typically has a fat content of around 85%; standard American butter is only about 80% fat. That 5% difference has a big impact on the flavor and consistency of the finished dish. At the grocery store, some types of high-fat butter are labeled "European-style." Plugra and Kerrygold are two widely available brands. If the butter happens to be cultured, all the better, but this is not essential. We learned from Guccione that patience is an important ingredient. Tossing the pasta with the cheese in small additions and while gradually adding some starchy pasta-cooking water takes time, but yields a velvety-smooth sauce. We highly recommend serving the pasta in individual bowls that have been gently warmed.
Don't use more than two quarts of water to cook the pasta. It's a small amount by intention, as the starchy liquid is used as an ingredient in the sauce. Don't drain the pasta in a colander. Use tongs to lift the noodles out of the water and drop them, with ample water clinging to them, into the bowl lined with the butter slices. You may need some pasta cooking water to adjust the consistency of the sauce just before serving, so don't prematurely discard it.
Line a large bowl with the butter slices, placing them in a single layer along the bottom and up the sides of the bowl. Let stand at room temperature until the butter is softened.
Meanwhile, in a food processor, process the cheese until very finely ground, about 40 seconds. Transfer to a medium bowl (you should have about 1½ cups).
In a large pot, bring two quarts of water to a boil. Add the pasta and 1½ teaspoons salt, then cook, stirring often, until the pasta is al dente. Remove the pot from the heat. Using tongs, transfer the pasta from the pot, with ample water clinging to it, to the butter-lined bowl. Using the tongs, quickly stir and toss the pasta, incorporating the butter, until the butter is fully melted. Add ½ cup pasta water and toss until the water has been absorbed.
Add one cup of the cheese, tossing, 1/3 cup at a time, tossing and adding the next addition only after the previous one has been incorporated. Next, toss in ½ to one cup more pasta water, adding about ¼ cup at a time, until the sauce clings to the pasta and only a small amount pools at the bottom of the bowl.
Let it stand for two minutes to allow the sauce to thicken slightly. If needed, toss in additional pasta water a little at a time until the sauce once again clings to the pasta and only a small amount pools at the bottom of the bowl. Taste and season with salt. Divide among warmed serving bowls and serve immediately with the remaining cheese on the side for sprinkling at the table.
Segment Producer Suzie Wiley. Watch New Day Northwest at 11 a.M. Weekdays on KING 5 and streaming live on KING5.Com. Contact New Day.
The Creamiest, Most Decadent Fettuccine Alfredo Is Only 15 Short Minutes Away
ERROR: The request could not be satisfiedRequest blocked. We can't connect to the server for this app or website at this time. There might be too much traffic or a configuration error. Try again later, or contact the app or website owner. If you provide content to customers through CloudFront, you can find steps to troubleshoot and help prevent this error by reviewing the CloudFront documentation.
Generated by cloudfront (CloudFront) Request ID: T0QS1lBlK1oPk2a7v8dGc8N456tm6mkFXkWeDCdQIXGxvwprbdCTRw==Fettuccine Alfredo
In the early 1900s, Italian restaurateur Alfredo Di Lelio started serving plates of pasta enrobed with cheese and butter at his restaurant in Rome. Known today as fettuccine Alfredo, the dish gained more fame in the past century in the US than in its home country. But it also evolved in its new environs: American cooks added heavy cream or half-and-half to thicken and enrich the sauce. To each their own, but no authentic fettuccine Alfredo recipe should include cream (because it dulls the flavor of the cheese).
Like Roman staples cacio e pepe and pasta alla gricia, the gloss in Alfredo sauce comes from an emulsion of cheese with starchy pasta water (and, in this case, butter, which should be cold and cut into small pieces). It's not a complicated technique, but it requires patience. The rich dairy must be introduced to the water slowly so that the elements can coalesce into that silky sauce. For extra guidance, check out this step-by-step video.
The short ingredient list—pasta, butter, and Parmesan—means this is the place to be choosy, particularly with the cheese. Parmigiano-Reggiano (look for its name stamped on the side) is the classic choice and will absolutely give you the best flavor, but there are less expensive substitutes. Whatever you buy, choose a whole wedge and grate it coarsely yourself; or, pulse it in a food processor or blender (about five 30-second pulses should do it) to produce small beads of cheese that will melt evenly.
To transform this simple pasta dish into chicken Alfredo, serve alongside a platter of tangy chicken piccata; or for shrimp Alfredo, make garlicky shrimp scampi.
Comments
Post a Comment