Easy, Rich & Creamy Alfredo Sauce ~ recipes and ideas

Alfredo sauce is made from three ingredients; cream, butter and cheese, so is lush and rich but not very good for you, except that it will make you happy, which is good for you.  So, have this delicious sauce occasionally and enjoy.

Alfredo Sauce

This quantity makes enough to coat 225g raw weight pasta which is enough for two people and is completely delicious with no further additions – but, of course, good with additions too – see below!

200ml double cream
15g butter
50g freshly grated Parmesan plus more for sprinkling
salt and pepper to taste
(I myself, personally, would be heavy on the pepper)

~   Gently heat the butter and the cream together, stirring, till the butter has melted into the cream.
~   Add the 50g  of shredded Parmesan and stir in till melted.
~   Slowly bring to a gentle boil, immediately turn down the heat and simmer, still stirring quite a lot but only for a minute or so, maybe less, till you have a smooth creamy sauce.  

And there you have it.

Alfredo sauce is normally thought of in conjunction with pasta, and no wonder, they are a perfect combination.  Just toss the hot cooked pasta in the hot sauce coated. Stir in any delicious additions you have in mind and serve with more parmesan for diners to grate over their meal, if they wish.  Also, it is a great idea to top the dishes with pangrattato.  Honestly – great, have a look here.

Varying Basic Alfredo Sauce

~ Use deliciously flavoured butters instead of pure butter in the recipe.
~ You could also use a different cream, living in the UK I use double cream which is perfect but heavy cream in the states works well too and, although I’ve never tried it I have seen recipes using half and half.
~ Use a different cheese, for instance this Pasta in Creamy Blue Cheese Sauce with Roasted Pears

Additions to Alfredo Sauce

~   see here for how to use every part of a chicken and use some of the scraps together with sautéed mushrooms to make delicious Creamy Chicken Alfredo
~  stir in some roasted garlic
~  add wild garlic
~  add pesto
~ stir in some caramelised onions
~ add some lovely buttery leeks in the same way as the onions and add them to the sauce. This goes very well with salmon.
~  spice it up with lovely smoky chipotle paste
~ add a little of ketchup (for pinkness as well as flavour) to Alfredo Sauce plus perhaps a little brandy, this is good with seafood
~ bacon, ham, chorizo, prosciutto and even black pudding are all good added to this sauce for pasta or otherwise
~  sautéed mushrooms with black garlic in Alfredo Sauce is a wonderful combination, good on pasta and on toast!

Ideas for Alfredo Sauce other than pasta

~ Replace the more usual tomato sauce on a pizza with Alfredo Sauce – as in this Finnan Crispy Pizza
~ Use as a dip
~ Use to sauce fish or chicken
~ Use in mashed potato or a baked potato instead of butter
~ Toss fresh cooked green vegetables, asparagus for instance, with alfredo sauce or drizzle over roasted cauliflower.
~ Stir into whatever appropriate leftovers you have; leftover fish and seafood, chicken, veggies, etc. and pile onto toast.

The Original Alfredo Sauce

Over the years I have read various stories about various Italian gentlemen called Alfredo who dressed their fresh fettuccine with butter, which does make a good simple meal.  Then, rumour has it, in America chefs added cream to the dish and that was when it became so popular.

See here on Wikipedia for more information on its history.

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