Holiday Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What can I add to fettuccine Alfredo to make it taste better? ›

You could just add garlic powder, sure, but quickly sautéeing fresh garlic while your pasta cooks is a great way to layer flavor. Resnick likes to add spinach as a way to cut the richness of the sauce. Add a tablespoon or so of olive oil and a few cloves of minced garlic in a sautée pan over medium heat.

In Italy, Christmas Eve is often a day when no meat is eaten. So a pasta dish such as fettuccine is a traditional option.

Another simple way to spice up a boring jar of Alfredo sauce is fresh herbs. Adding fresh herbs to a dish makes it brighter and adds another dimension to a tired sauce. Add basil, parsley, oregano, or rosemary to add life to the sauce.

Add a few dashes of garlic powder to your simmering sauce, or a clove or two of fresh sauteed garlic, to brighten up the Alfredo and make its flavor pop. You can also sprinkle in some fresh or dried herbs, like oregano, thyme, or basil, to add complexity to the sauce.

Butter: This Alfredo sauce starts with two sticks of butter. Cream: The rich sauce calls for almost a cup of heavy cream. Seasonings: The fettuccine Alfredo is simply seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Cheese: You'll need Romano and Parmesan cheeses.

Extra seasonings and spices will go a long way in adding flavor to a boring jar of sauce. Some of my personal favorites include salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, dried basil, oregano, onion powder or seasoned salt. Start with small amounts (1/2 teaspoon at a time) and add as needed, in order to avoid over-spicing.

Add Cheese

The key ingredient in Alfredo sauce is cheese—generally Parmigiano Reggiano—and lots of it. To thicken Alfredo sauce, simply add more cheese than the amount called for in a recipe until you achieve the consistency you want.

Christmas Eve is a vigil or fasting day, and the abundance of seafood reflects the observance of abstinence from meat until the feast of Christmas Day itself.

What is the Catholic Christmas Eve meal? ›

Their tradition of eating seafood on Christmas Eve is thought to have emerged from the Roman Catholic tradition of abstaining from meat until the Christmas Day feast. As no meat or animal fat could be used on such days, observant Catholics would eat fish instead.

La Vigilia di Natale (Christmas Eve) Foods

Catholic tradition prohibits the consumption of meat on the evenings before religious holidays. Most Italians, therefore, eat a fishy feast on Christmas Eve.

After 12 ounces of fettuccine pasta noodles are finished cooking, reserve 2 cups of the pasta water to include in your sauce. The starchy water is essential to creating a thick, creamy sauce consistency.

Typically, we like the ratio of one jar of our sauce to 1 pound (or package) of our pasta. Don't dump that pasta water. That hot starchy water is an asset to your pasta dishes.

While controlling the heat is what helps the fat (oil) not separate from the sauce in the first place, adding cream to your leftovers is what helps to revive the dish. This leaves the pasta nice and creamy again and makes sure that it's not dried out.

Cornstarch

The easiest way to accomplish this is to mix about a spoonful of cornstarch to 2 spoonfuls of liquid – it could be water or chicken stock or even milk. You will add this mixture, also called a slurry to the sauce and as it starts to cook, the sauce will thicken.

Whisk the lemon juice into the sauce. The acid helps to balance the heavy sauce. Remove the pasta from the water and add into the sauce with ½ cup parmesan, stirring with tongs to combine.

Alfredo sauce is a rich, creamy sauce that is typically made with butter, heavy cream, and Parmesan cheese. Some recipes also call for garlic, herbs, or other seasonings. Essentially, the sauce is a combination of butter and cream, with the Parmesan cheese adding a tangy, salty flavour.