Alfredo Sauce

Pretty sure I just made my husband the happiest man ever tonight...no,not how you think...as usual, it was with food :) Long before Ragu came out with a bottled Alfredo sauce, his mom made it from scratch. He likes the bottled stuff okay for recipes, but really wanted the real stuff like his mom used to make. Of course, I did it. And, as testament, my husband says to me at dinner, "Well honey...as usual, you nailed it." Woot.

Alfredo Sauce:
1 pint heavy cream
1 stick butter
1-1/2 cups grated parmesan (yes, the bulk stuff at Winco worked GREAT)
Garlic (See Notes below!) **
Black pepper

Heat cream and butter on low until butter melts and mixture is getting warm. Add the garlic and pepper. Keep stirring with a whisk and slowly add a cup of parmesan cheese in increments. (Sprinkle about a quarter cup at a time on the cream mixture and whisk it in. Add more when it's incorporated.) Add cheese up to the 1-1/2 cups, you may not use it all, the cheese provides the thickness for the sauce, use the entire cup and a half if you want it nice and thick. The sauce will thicken slightly as it cools, but I used the whole cup and a half....(Have you met me? lol) Season to taste with more garlic or pepper if you wish.

You should NOT boil this sauce, it will scorch. But keeping it at a low-med temperature and whisking while the cheese melts is good. Serve over pasta.

** A note about the garlic: I did not use fresh garlic in this. If you DO use fresh, crush it and sautee it a little in butter first, it's a little too powerful when fresh. What I did use was the minced garlic in a bottle, you know the stuff, it looks like paste. I love that stuff. If you don't have that around, substitute 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder.


Okay! The cool thing about this is you can do anything with this sauce. I doubled the recipe and added two cans of minced clams and a can of shrimp. Fantastic. You can add sauteed vegetables for a vegetable alfredo. Add a grilled chicken breast (or really cheat and add a can of cooked chicken meat) for chicken alfredo. Add some crab meat and a couple of steamed asparagus spears for Crab Oscar. Grill a London Broil and slice thinly, and you got steak alfredo. Yummo.


I will be trying this with sun dried tomatoes and roasted red peppers for a sauce to rival Craigo's...tune in for results in a couple weeks! This stuff is just too rich to eat more than a couple times a month!