I once read somewhere that Italian restaurants put fettuccine alfredo on their menus because it’s cheap to make and boring people with no pallet order it. I love it so does that make me boring and without a pallet? I’d like to think otherwise. So I did some research and it turns out that fettuccine alfredo is, in fact, from Italy. In Italy, this dish is commonly known as “fettuccine al burro e fromaggio,” or fettuccine with butter and cheese. It is a non-recipe. Basically, it’s so simple that you don’t need a recipe. Kind of like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
So why do we call it alfredo sauce? A restaurant owner by the name of Alfredo de Lelio had a pregnant wife who was having a hard time keeping food down. So he threw together a simple dish made of fettuccine, lots of butter, and parmigiano- reggiano for her. Eventually, he put it on his menu at his restaurant. Then in 1927, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks visited Rome and fell in love with de Lelio’s fettuccine alfredo. They brought the dish back to Hollywood and popularity of the dish in the US spread quickly.
So tonight I’m making homemade “fettuccine al burro e fromaggio.” And because it’s a non-recipe, I can make it however I want.
The Results:
Yes, I that is homemade pasta! The result was great and I could really tell the pasta was fresh. Well worth the hard work. I made my sauce by melting butter in a large pan and sauteed some garlic and mushrooms. Then I added parmesan cheese and stirred until melted. I added salt, pepper, some cream for a creamy texture, and then threw in some fresh basil and some rotisserie chicken before serving.
I was really worried about the pasta dough- it was very hard and I wasn’t sure my kitchenaid would be able to squeeze it through the fettuccine shape. However, after letting it rest for about an hour, it soften up a little bit. I made the dough by making a volcano (dome with a well in the middle) using 3 cups of flour and some salt, and then filled my volcano with 3 eggs plus 4 egg yolks. Using a fork, stir the eggs and slowly add in flour from the edges of the volcano, until all the flour has been incorporated. Then use your hands to knead the dough. It is very crumbly so you can add some olive oil, but not too much because it will come together as you knead the dough. Then wrap tightly with plastic and leave in a cool place for about an hour. Then either roll out and cut into desired shape or put through a pasta maker. Lie the pasta on a towel to dry as you go. Cook the pasta in boiling, salted water, for only 2-3 minutes.
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