Cream Alfredo

Name: Cream Alfredo
Total time: 23 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 8 oz fettuccine (dried); 2 l water; 1 tbsp salt (for the pasta water); 6 tbsp butter (unsalted, cut in pieces, softened); 1 ½ cup parmesan (finely grated); ½ tsp black pepper (coarsely ground); ¾ cup heavy whipping cream

Noodles & Rice · European

A variant of Fettuccine Alfredo — The cream-reduction method described alongside Primera’s butter-and-pasta-water reference.

7 ingredients · 23 minutes · 2 servings

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Contains gluten, dairy

Restrictions

Containsgluten · dairyIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.

Diets

VegetarianPescatarianNo porkNo alcohol

Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.

Ingredients

Servings:

8 oz	fettuccine (dried)
2 l	water
1 tbsp	salt (for the pasta water)
6 tbsp	butter (unsalted, cut in pieces, softened)
1 ½ cup	parmesan (finely grated)
½ tsp	black pepper (coarsely ground)
¾ cup	heavy whipping cream

Optional

Not counted above. The dish works without them.

1 pinch	nutmeg (grated)
1 tbsp	parsley (chopped)

Steps

grate4 min
fine rasp, cheese cold
parmesan on the smallest holes you own — pre-shredded cheese is coated in cellulose and potato starch that will not dissolve, and coarse shreds melt into threads instead of into sauce. Let the grated cheese sit out while the water heats; cold cheese hitting warm butter is the most common cause of a stringy pan.
boil9 min
rolling boil, salted, uncovered
water + salt + fettuccine, stirring for the first minute so the strands do not weld. Use less water than usual for pasta — you want it cloudy and thick with starch, because that starch is the emulsifier that holds butterfat and cheese in suspension. Pull the pasta one minute short of the package time and reserve 1.5 cups of the water.
simmer4 min
wide pan, gentle simmer
Combine the cream and butter in a wide pan. Simmer gently for about 4 minutes to reduce the cream before adding the cheese. This replaces the reference recipe’s butter-and-pasta-water base; keep the reserved pasta water for adjusting the finished sauce.
emulsify2 min
off the heat, tossing constantly
Remove the pan from the heat. Add the drained fettuccine and toss in the cream base, then add the parmesan in three handfuls, letting each disperse before the next. If the sauce looks tight, loosen it with a little reserved pasta water.
season1 min
warm, plated immediately
+ black pepper + nutmeg, then serve straight from the pan. Parmesan is already salty, so taste before adding any; and there is no holding this dish — the emulsion stiffens as it cools and reheating breaks it for good.