My wife and I wanted to have pasta for dinner the other night, and when first discussing what to make we almost simultaneously blurted out Alfredo. In other words, something rich, creamy and comforting, that’s not particularly difficult to make.
Culinary lore suggests pasta made Alfredo-style originates from an Italian dish, fettuccini al burro, fettuccini with Parmesan cheese and butter.
One story says that a man named Alfredo di Lelio first prepared and served it to his pregnant wife, who had an upset stomach, but still needed sustenance. Other stories say he did that after the child was born.
Either way, she loved it, and in the early 1900s Di Lelio decided to put the dish on the menu at his restaurant in Rome, calling it fettuccine al triplo burro. Triplo is Italian for triple, and indication of how buttery his creation was.
The dish became very popular and as time moved along it began being served in other parts of Italy and other parts of the world, such as North America. How it was prepared also evolved, with cream being added in some locales.
That creamy version of the dish eventually became called fettuccini Alfredo, or fettuccini all’ Alfredo, a nod to Alfredo di Lelio. In Marcella Hazan’s 1980 tome, The Classic Italian Cookbook, she has a recipe for it, and so does Alice Waters in her 1984 book, Chez Panisse Pasta, Pizza and Calzone.
Both recipes use a similar mix of ingredients. With heavy (whipping) cream, butter, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and simple seasonings — no garlic — being used to make a sauce for fettuccini.
Fettuccini Alfredo made that way is a very tasty dish. It also works well with other types of pasta, such as the linguini I used in my recipe. The creamy mixture also works well with other ingredients; such as the B.C. hand-peeled shrimp and bright-green peas I tossed into my creation called linguini Alfredo with shrimp and peas.
It serves two and, if you really want to load up on the carbs, serve it with my accompanying recipe for aromatic and very flavourful deluxe garlic bread.
According to the best-selling Canadian book, The Art of Living According to Joe Beef, to measure how much dry spaghetti to serve per person, make the size of a quarter with your thumb and index finger. One portion of spaghetti, when bundled together, is what fits into that “hole.” I’ve found this method also works for linguini, yielding the 100 grams of dried linguini I served per person in my recipe.
Linguini Alfredo with Shrimp and Peas for Two
This creamy, comforting pasta is rich with succulent shrimp, bright green peas and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: About 10 minutes
Makes: two servings
200 grams dry linguini
1 cup whipping cream
1 Tbsp butter
• salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
200 grams hand-peeled shrimp, or other small cooked shrimp, patted dry
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (not the dried powder type), plus some for the table
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• parsley sprigs, for garish (optional)
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the linguini and cook until just tender (see package for suggested cooking time).
While pasta cooks, make Alfredo sauce by setting a 10-inch or similar-sized skillet over medium, medium-high heat. Add cream and butter, bring to a simmer, and simmer until cream has lightly thickened, about one minute. Season sauce with salt and pepper, and then add the shrimp and peas and heat them through two minutes. Turn heat to low.
When the pasta is cooked, add 1/4 cup of its cooking liquid to the Alfredo sauce. Now drain the pasta well. Add the pasta to the Alfredo sauce, along with the 1/2-cup grated Parmesan cheese and parsley, toss to combine and let cook 30 seconds more.
Divide pasta between two shallow pasta bowls, ensuring some of the shrimp and peas end up on top. Garnish each serving with parsley sprigs, if using. Serve pasta with additional grated Parmesan cheese, for sprinkling on at the table.
Deluxe Garlic Bread
Golden, chopped bits of garlic, olive oil, butter, Parmesan cheese and other flavourings make the topping for this garlic bread deluxe. Bake and then serve it alongside the linguini Alfredo.
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 11 to 13 minutes
Makes: two servings
2 large garlic cloves, very thinly sliced
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• pinches dried oregano and red pepper flakes
4 (1-inch/2.5 cm thick) slices Italian bread or baguette (see Note)
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (divided)
Place garlic and olive oil in a small skillet and set over medium-low heat. Heat and cook the garlic until tender and very light golden (do not burn), about five minutes. Lift sliced garlic out of the skillet and set on a cutting board. Pour the oil in the skillet into a small bowl. Finley chop the garlic and add it, the butter, parsley, oregano, pepper flakes and half the cheese to the oil in the bowl. Mix well to combine.
Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Spread one side of each slice of bread with the garlic/butter mixture. Set on the baking sheet, butter-sided up. Sprinkle the tops of the bread with remaining Parmesan cheese (see Eric options). Bake the garlic bread for six to eight minutes, or until golden and lightly toasted.
Note: If using baguette for this, slice the bread at a 45-degree angle. The leftover Italian bread or baguette you have after slicing what you need for this recipe can be used the next day for such things as sandwiches, tuna melts, French toast and/or be turned into croutons. It could also be frozen for another time.
Eric’s options: You can make the garlic bread oven-ready a few hours in advance. Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake. Add a minute or so to the baking the time, as you’ll be starting from cold.
Eric Akis is the author of eight cookbooks. His columns appear in the Life section Wednesday and Sunday.
