Fettuccini Alfredo

Cheese and pasta are especially comforting, aren’t they? There’s definitely a love of macaroni and cheese. Another popular dish at Italian restaurants is fettuccine alfredo. With that said, it doesn’t surprise me that there are quite a few recipe variations on how to prepare these two dishes… specifically, Olive Garden’s Fettuccine Alfredo.

Just for kicks, I did a Google search on “Olive Garden Alfredo.” The first site to come up is this one, Secret Restaurant Recipes. I invite you to click the link and prepare for some reading enjoyment, primarily from the comments generated from the post. I had no idea so many Olive Garden employees felt so strongly and knew so much about their beloved Alfredo sauce!

But back to cooking, the following recipe is not from the Secret Restaurant Recipes site, but rather the book, America’s Most Wanted Recipes by Ron Douglas. What makes this recipe different from the ones floating around on the Internet is the use of six egg yolks. Six?! Questioning how this would come out and worrying I may have used up a half dozen eggs on a potentially bad recipe, I followed the directions. The result was a silky smooth alfredo sauce with a gorgeous yellow hue. Even better was that this Fettuccine Alfredo was much less greasy than the restaurant version. The flavor was rich but without the added butter, which is pretty noticeable when you order this dish at the restaurant. Friends and I agreed that it was good… better than we expected! I may have to try this again, perhaps with my own spin and/or using other Italian cheeses…

1 pound dry fettuccine pasta
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
6 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley

Cook fettuccine according to the package directions.

Meanwhile, heat the milk and heavy cream in a medium saucepan until it comes to a simmer. Slowly whisk in the cheese and remove it from the heat.

In a liquid measuring cup, place the egg yolks and whisk. Add a ladle of the heated cream into the measuring cup and whisk to warm up the egg yolks (also known as tempering.) Slowly pour the egg yolk mixture back into the milk and cream mixture in the saucepan, add the garlic powder and whisk to fully combine. Season to taste with salt and pepper, if desired.

Just before serving, whisk in the chopped fresh parsley to the saucepan and then pour over the cooked fettucini. Serve hot.