Cayman Fish...and a Collage of Awards

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. Spring is hear, and so is Passover, and Easter. Actually, Passover ends tomorrow at sundown. We had a very nice and relaxing Easter Sunday at my daughter's with her in-laws who will be going back to Italy, but before they go back, on Wednesday, Teresa was cooking up a storm for Easter...but before I get into that, there's something even more exciting that I want to share with you, is this amazing fish dish, from the Grand Cayman Island, by a recently befriended blogger, by the name of Parsley Sage...sorry, I never did ask for her real first name, I figure if they want to let you know what their real name is, they would have told you so it's all right, after all it's such a cute name...maybe I should have picked Rosemary Thyme for my name on my blog,

I also like that name. Parsley Sage has such a cool and refreshing blog called The Deep Dish and she actually lives on Grand Cayman Island...and here I thought in the beginning that she is just visiting the island. When I saw her making this delicious fish with peppers, and onions, and island spices, I immediately fell in love with this colorful and yummy fish...knowing that I did have everything on hand, including fresh Salmon, but not the fish that she recommended. Also, I used scotch bonnet, and sweet peppers, shallots, and sweet onions, and I'll tell you, those scotch bonnets will set your mouth on "fire" no matter how you are trying to tone it down. Now for the recipe, you will just have to click over toThe Deep Dish blog, to find it!
Just think, you don't even have to travel to the Cayman Island, or even to West Palm Beach...on the beach, where I live, to get this authentic island recipe...I did a few minor adaptations to the dish, but over all, it was superb, over a bed of rice.

I'm linking the Cayman Fish to the gracious hosts @ Hearth and Soul #45
Thanking all of them for hosting this fun, event, to share, every Tuesday...so link up with them!

                                   The Hearth and Soul Hop Team!

Alex at a Moderate Life

Christy at Frugality and Crunchiness with Christy

Jason at Alternative Health and Nutrition

Alea of Premeditated Leftovers

April of 21st Century Housewife

Michelle of Fit Foodista

Kankana of Sunshine and Smile

Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen

The Hearth and Soul Hop Hub

...also, I have an exciting announcement to make re: my 300th follower on my
food blog (not to mention on the other 54)
Shelby, from Yum de la Yum  isn't that such an adorable, name for a blog?
You just have to check out her blog and try not to get hypnotized by her amazing decadent chocolate cake, before you bookmark, and copy her recipe!

I'm linking my Cayman Fish to Full Plate Thursday, 4-28-2011 
@ Miz Helen's Country Cottage

Spaghetti Con Aglio e Olio=Spaghetti With Garlic and Oil

Exactly one week ago, I was in such a daze, and so helpless seeing my sweet daughter Lora in so much pain and going through a major surgery like that was not something any of us were expecting, but fortunately she had all the love and support from family, and friends, and all her and my friends through both of our food blogs, as well.

Thank you so much to all of you dear friends for your kind words of caring, and support throughout this past week!

I should be cooking up a "storm" and baking something fabulous, but she has her amazing mother in-law Teresa from Como, Italy there, to cook and bake every day. They have not had store bought bread in the two weeks because Teresa has her trusty cup of "starter" in the fridge to make fresh homemade breads and rolls every day. As I mentioned before, I always have the basic herbs, and spices on hand, and I'm virtually never without fresh parsley, basil, and of course fresh garlic. A nice quality of spaghetti, and a good chunk of imported Parmigiana Reggiano freshly shaved, will make a gourmet dish that does not require anything else...perhaps a side salad, and a nice piece of crunchy bread.

Mushrooms in Adobo Sauce-Cookbook Sundays

Today is Sunday, April 3rd. and I've been counting the days when I could proudly feature my Cookbook Sundays,
now, being hosted by Melynda @Mom's Sunday Cafe.
I am happy to stay in this group, especially knowing that Melynda is an expert hostess and will do so well. We had such a busy week with celebrating birthdays for a week now, and I cannot look at another piece of cake for a while...well, maybe for a (few days.)
I've been craving for more vegetarian foods, since last weeks feast at the Darbster's Vegan Bistro, so I decided to do my own little version of vegetarian feast, but will only post one recipe, which is for this amazing Spanish Mushrooms in Adobo Sauce, which requires very little time, and effort.
This book has all your tapas-which are appetizers, in English. I can just have tapas, when I go to a restaurant, and a nice chilled glass of white wine, and I'm happy.

This can be served as a side dish, or eaten just like this with a nice crust piece of bread. If you like mushrooms, then this is the ultimate way  to prepare this. All I can say is, you will want second serving, or you will gobble this whole serving up just by yourself!

Rather than marinating, these mushroom are in adobo, which means, that they, are cooked, in sauce instead of marinating.


Chapinones en Adobo (Mushrooms in adobo sauce)
by Penelope Casas
recipe adapted

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 of sweet, or regular yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic sliced
2 Tbsp tomato sauce
1/2 cup white wine
2 cloves
1.2 teaspoon saffron
salt and pepper to taste
1 pint (2 cups) fresh button mushrooms, stems removed,
cut in half

Heat the oil in a medium heavy skillet. Saute onions, and garlic till onion is wilted and golden.Stir in the wine, and the spices, the salt and pepper,  and cook down the wine till slightly reduced. Add the tomato sauce, and the 1 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. Simmer for about 20 minutes, uncovered. Add the mushrooms, and stir to incorporate with the sauce, and cook for an additional 10 more minutes, and serve. 4 side servings, or 2 large servings.

I'm linking this post to Kristen @Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
 Chaya @My Sweet and Savory and Swathi-Hearth and Soul Hop #42

You can always have another side dish to go with the mushrooms in adobo. This really great potato salad, I made a batch to have a nice side dish, either pairing it with grilled meat, or just by itself. I packed up all these goodies to take them over to my daughter's to share with her in-laws for lunch. Very light homemade vinaigrette dressing, with a little kick from the stone ground mustard, with mustard seeds. Yumm!

You can tell spring is here...although spring has been here in South Florida since January, and by May we will be going full swing into summer, until about October, November is when we have our fall...without leaves turning their gorgeous hues of color...couldn't quite picture our palm trees turning shades of yellows, reds, and orange color. Enjoy a refreshing new small potato,( red, or white ) salad with chopped sweet onions, sliced celery, chopped dill pickles, and can't forget the sliced hard boiled eggs, and a mild vinaigrette made with extra virgin olive oil, white balsamic vinegar and about a teaspoon of stone ground mustard. Just add freshly ground pepper, and some sea salt, and dry herbs if you like. Enjoy!

Hungarian Lecsó (lecho)

The other day, I found a "treasure" in my local supermarket, Publix, which I'm proud to announce. A gorgeous bag of local sweet mini peppers, in assorted colors. When I opened the bag, the fresh, and sweet aroma just permeated throughout my little kitchen. I have been waiting for these amazing little sweet, and crunchy, colorful peppers, that when I picked up the bag from the special stand, a little old lady asked me..."are they real?...I didn't want to be mean,  and say..."no, they're plastic"...she really meant well, and I wasn't about to make a "snarky remark!"

Such a huge bag of these gorgeous peppers can be made different ways. My second choice: Roasted peppers...and why not? They are ever so delicious, and with these tiny peppers, you almost don't even have to remove the skins, after roasting them. Just drizzle vegetable oil on the peppers on a aluminum foil lined bake pan, and add pieces of garlic, or chopped garlic, salt and pepper, and fresh rosemary, and bake at 425 degrees for about 45 minutes. Leave the little peppers whole, when you roast them. It's even more delicious when you open them after they're done. It is not hot, or spicy, just sweet, and pleasant yummy flavor.

I still had the second portion of the bag of new red potatoes, so I pre-boiled them, first, cutting them in half, and boil them till almost done, and sauteed them in extra virgin olive oil, and butter, and added fresh chopped parsley, freshly grated sea salt, and fresh ground black pepper, and made an amazing vegetarian meal out of the lecso, potatoes, and nice crusty bread, to dip into the rich tomato/paprika sauce. "Out of this World"...amazing, and healthy dish!

Hungarian Lecsó (lecho)
my own recipe

About 2 lbs. of sweet assorted, or hot peppers
1 large onion sliced, or chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
1 large can of a 28 oz. diced tomatoes
or you can use about 4 fresh chopped tomatoes
4 Tablespoon vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste
2 Tablespoon sweet Hungarian paprika
1/2 cup of water

In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic over medium high heat, till onion gets a golden color. Pull skillet away from the heat, and add the salt, pepper, and paprika. Stir, to combine, add the water, and add the mini peppers, cut into half, removing the seeds, or with the larger peppers, cut into strips, and also removing the seeds. Stir to incorporate, and saute for a few minutes, then add the tomatoes, and cook slow, over medium heat until peppers get slightly softened, and tomatoes get to a thick consistency. Serve them as a side dish, or appetizer, or save some to add to scrambled eggs, which is a super delicious breakfast treat. Serves 4-6

This is the bag of the sweet peppers.They are from a local Florida produce farm. They are so incredible, and delicious. So full of natural vitamin C.

Garlic Shrimp with Broccoli

It's a Friday night, usually a pizza night at my daughter's...and if not, then shrimp night at my son's. We were all there together, to enjoy the easy shrimp dish that even the little ones like, including broccoli...and let's not forget the pasta, in this case it was whole wheat penne, with basil tomato sauce, which I did not photograph...(been done) so many time. The focus was on the shrimp, in a nice fresh garlicky lemon sauce-no butter, just extra virgin olive oil that it was sauteed in, and broccoli florets steamed, and added the the shrimp. Extra virgin olive oil wast drizzle on the top, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. The sauce was the best part, to dip your bread into it. Yumm! No recipe required...just common sense, and pure enjoyment!

Grilled-Boneless Center Pork Loin Chops

Being in the culinary industry for over 30 years...there are two important cooking equipments I learned to rely on, and the first one, is a large cast iron skillet, and/or a heavy duty stainless steel skillet, and a cast iron grill pan. or a Calphalon grill pan. Those are my "lifesaving" most important equipments, which is a "must have."  Also, there are two other important ingredients which is a "must have" is a high quality Dijon mustard and/or a high quality Stone Ground Mustard. Also, I rely on a special jam, or "preserve" which I use for glazes on my grilled meat, and also for glazing my fresh berries, melting it down, and this is my most favorite, which is sometimes hard to find. "Pure Seedless Boysenberry Preserves"...now that I gave away my "must have" secrets, I would like to share my super easy recipe for my Grilled-Boneless Center Cut Pork Loin Chops, along with My Roasted Red Potatoes, and Caramelized Onions to pair with it....and of course my most favorite sweet and spicy glaze. Here's and interesting link Boneless Center Pork Loin Chops that will help you with the grilling these lovely super moist and tender pork chops, which is called "the other white meat"...so true...yes, indeed!

Sicilian Puttanesca Sauce...and a Winner!

It's been a trying 3 days for me...trying to scan photos on my scanner, which is a Canon, flatbed, from ten years ago. I do have another newer model, from HP, but that is at least six years old, as well. That particular one, the scanner does not work. I'm trying to be this "self help" computer tech, and it' taking a toll on my patience already, figuring things out. Well, everything is working on the old scanner...lucky for me, I saved the soft-ware to upload the program, now, just a matter of time, how to upload the scanned Sicilian precious photos that I wanted to share with you. I will probably have to resort to my daughter's scanner later, to upload them. I made this pasta the other night at my daughter's house, and it was a huge success, even with the little ones. I have never seen a 4 year old child eat anchovies, black olives, capers, at all, and here I have my little "snow white skinned" blue eyed  Mediterranean grandson, who eats just about everything you put on his plate, especially foods, such as this, and wants a second helping. Something about Puttanesca, which derives from the word "putana=whore," really does have a history behind this famous sauce, does not mean actually, that putanas, where actually cooking it.

Buffalo Chicken Wings with Blue Cheese Dressing

Ever wonder why they call these hot wings Buffalo wings?...well, it sure doesn't have anything to do with buffalo meat!...oh, yuck...even the thought of it! I'm going to enlighten you with a little history of these wonderful messy, but so tasty, juicy, and tender wings oozing in a special hot sauce that you make your very own, and have it medium, or extra hot.

It has been repeated so often that these wings were invented at the Anchor Bar on Main Street in Buffalo, that pretty much everyone accepted it as the truth. There has been less consensus, however, about whether the wings were created when a mistaken delivery of wings arrived at the bar and Frank Bellisimo asked his wife, Teressa, to do something with them...or, when Dom, their son, asked his mother to concoct a late-night snack for regulars at the bar. Either way, it was Teressa, who in 1964 came up with the idea of combining spicy wings with crisp celery, and blue cheese dressing.

Buffalo wings did not become famous until 1980, and the city declared July 29..."Chicken Wings Day"...and simply left it at that!

Italian Sausage with Grilled Cheddar Polenta, and a Giveaway

After posting my vegetarian spaghetti carbonara, now I feel so guilty...Not!...but I should be, for posting sausage of all things, but not just any sausage, this is homemade, by my favorite Italian meat market, Mario's that's been around forever...about 30 years, with the same owners, now the owner's daughter in charge. This is the sausage, hot, and mild, that I bought for New Year's and still had another 2 lbs left over. I invited a friend over for dinner last night, and she was appalled and I could tell just the sound of her voice saying..."sausage?"...and then, silence!

Oh, my! I committed the "Cardinal Sin"...yes, I said "sausage, Italian sausage"...in her mind, since she doesn't eat sausage, thinking I was making these "dinky little breakfast sausages"...or, as she said...is it "Jimmy Dean sausage patties?"...no silly homemade Italian sausage. Enough said, just come on over, and "stop complaining, already!" I recently, or actually the other day, browsing through my followers blogs,

I found a blog, which had the most delicious Hungarian polenta, well in Hungarian, it's called "puliszka", which I thought looked so delicious, and more tempting was the amazing meat stuffed with sauer kraut, and topped with Hungarian bacon. Wow!...just looking at the photo made my cholesterol, go high, but I had to make a polenta dish which I have not made in a few years.
Lucky for me, I had everything on hand, and did not have to buy a thing.
Do check out Gesztenye
which in English mean Chestnuts she also has another blog too, all about truffles, or as she calls them bon-bons.
Another talented, and creative food blogger, from a different country, Hungary, my mother's birth country!

A Comforting Frittata

With Christmas behind us, and leftovers just about gone, too much sweets eaten...a nice comforting vegetarian frittata will not only satisfies your hunger, but you can have your "breakfast, for dinner" as well. How can you go wrong with a perfect blend of sauteed sliced potatoes, fresh chopped tomatoes, and fresh spinach, topping it off with shredded cheese of your choice ( I used, cheddar)...scramble up at least 6-8 eggs, and added all together cooking it on the stove top, making sure you are not scrambling it, just lift a little from the edges to let it cook evenly, and finishing it off in the broiler. Yumm! Something your family will enjoy on a lazy and not much to do, evening.

There's no set recipe for this fritatta, just start out sauteing some chopped onions in about 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, along with about 4 small potatoes peeled and sliced thin, saute until potatoes are almost tender, adding about 1 large or a couple small fresh tomatoes, salt and pepper and a good handful of fresh spinach right into the mixture. Let it all cook together until spinach gets wilted. I even added about 1/4 cup of plain crushed tomatoes, (tomato sauce, marinara sauce will also work) but not tomato paste. To serve 6 servings with this, I scrambled 8 eggs, and poured it right over the vegetable mixture...see photo below!

In this process, all you do is lift a little bit around the edges, not disturbing the rest of the egg mixture, letting the uncooked eggs flow to the edge. 

At this point, you can see the edges setting, but the middle is still kind of wet, so with a wooden spoon, or spatula, carefully make a small incision in the center, tilting the pan from left to right to get to an even flow for setting more.
This may sound like a small "surgery process" or some kind of experiment, but it's just to make sure you have an even, nice, and fluffy frittata. Here's the last process, below!

Last process, I added a 16 ounce bag of shredded cheddar cheese, and a small amount of Mexican style cheese...you can add in place of this, shredded mozzarella, Swiss, or just grated Parmesan cheese. Also, you can variate the vegetables, and the spices, but in this case my grandchildren were eating this, and I had to be careful not making it too spicy for them. You can top this off with a nice salsa, and serve it with crusty bread. This dish served 4 adults, and 4 young children. Satisfaction guaranteed!

Butternut Squash, with Organic Rainbow Chard

Today, was one of those days when I decided to make something with ingredients I already had in my frig, but instead, I ended up using ingredients that my daughter had in her frig when I went to her house. She did the same thing, but for using stuff to make her cake. We both scoured through and found the perfect things. She had roasted butternut squash the other day, and it was the perfect solution for me to create a nice dish. I certainly used my favorite Indian curry, and  favorite Hungarian paprika...a combination that is a "winner" 







 

Perciatelli Carbonara

I did a crop, and a close up photo of my carbonara pasta, so you could see the nice sauce, with the pepper flakes, the diced red bell pepper, the bacon, and fresh parsley, the Parmesan cheese had already melted deliciously, on the top. My easy recipe, to follow. 

Perciatelli Carbonara 
(for 2)


1/2 box of a 1lb. Perciatelli or Spaghetti
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red, (or any color) bell pepper, diced
a dash of pepper flakes
salt and pepper, to taste,
4 slices of bacon fried crisp, and crumbled
2 eggs, mixed with 1/4 heavy cream
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
1Tbsp. bacon fat


First step, which is the most important step...In a large high heat resistant skillet, fry the bacon until crisp, and lay them on double thick paper towel to absorb the grease., and chop or crumble into small pieces. Next, drain but leave about 1 Tbsp. of the bacon grease, and add to it the1 Tbsp. of the olive oil. Saute  the onion, the chili pepper flakes, garlic, and bell pepper, in the reserved bacon grease, and olive oil.
In the meantime, boil pasta to al dente, saving 1/2 cup of the cooking water, if needed, to thin out the sauce, (which you most like don't have to) 
Scramble the eggs with the cream till nicely blended, and set aside. Drain the pasta, leaving about 1/2 cooking liquid, and set that aside. Pull the skillet off the heat, and add the pasta right into the skillet, pour the eggs, and cream mixture, right over the top, and mix together, adding the Parmesan cheese, and serve, with additional cheese, and chopped parsley, with a generous grinding of black pepper. 
note:
Be sure to pull off the skillet, from the heat, to add the eggs, and cream, otherwise you will end up with scrambled eggs, and not a nice, smooth sauce. One good thing is, for adding the cream...you will not have to use a lot of eggs, and save on fat, and cholesterol. You can use a mixture of butter, and olive oil to saute the onions, and the peppers, but the bacon grease gives it a nice, rich, flavor.

Sweet and Spicy Salmon

As much as I love spices, and spicy foods, I have not ventured out of my sphere yet...hoping to be more adventurous in exotic spices, and cuisine. I cropped these photos, really focusing on the beautiful sweet, and spicy salmon, which was marinating rubbed with the spices, of hot paprika, chili powder, cumin, zest of 1 lemon, sea salt, freshly ground pepper, and rubbed 1 Tbsp. of extra virgin olive oil (to prevent from dryness, )marinated  it in the frig.  for about 25 minutes...broiled for about 6 minutes, and laced with a Tbsp of honey and the juice of 1 lemon, to finish broiling for another minute...no longer, for a 6 oz. fillet.

When you are dining alone, and you want to make a quick and healthy dinner, not to mention somewhat elegant...after all, you deserve it! Look, what just 1 nice piece of Norwegian salmon can do for you. Livens up your "thrift find" 69 cents plate...LOL...the pepperoncini, which I always like to buy a nice large jar  of and of and the amazing jar of black olives, from Peru purchased at the Latina market, the mesclum fresh salad, and the jasmine rice, which only takes 20 minutes. This truly is a 30 minute meal, from start to finish, and hardly any messy clean up...and you did it for YOURSELF!...So, start to enjoy gourmet, for 1, or 2, at home!

Hungarian Cabbage Noodles

 

I've been talking about my Hungarian Cabbage noodles on Twitter, and on Foodbuzz several days ago, when I decided to make this. Bought a beautiful perfect head of cabbage, but I had so many other things that was in my refrigerator that I had to deal with, that I kept procrastinating with one excuse, after another. First, I kept saying to myself that I have to make home made noodles for this, second, it will take too long to make...yes, this one is true. You literally have to stand in front of the stove for at least 45 minutes, longer than making a risotto, third, I will really have to make this from memory, because the original recipe has way too much salt, and cooking with lard, is cholesterol "overkill." Actually, I have a 5th excuse too. All the other recipes found on the Internet are not the way I want to make it, and NO, I don't want to add poppy seed to my cabbage, as I saw one recipe out there, call for it. My 1963 Hungarian cookbook which I have inherited from my aunt Mariska, is a good source, which I am grateful that I can read it in Hungarian, but understanding the old European metric system is not going over too well for me. Although, I did figure how much 10dkg. of lard is; a whopping 2/3 cup! Wow!...and it goes on, and on with all the other recipes as well. Very short versions, no photos, you really have to know what you are doing, because they don't give you directions too well, or cooking time in most recipes. So here goes, I once again had to create my own, from memory, but without all the extra fat, and salt. Recipe will follow, along with photos.
 Hungarian Cabbage Noodles 
1 nice large head of green cabbage, grated, or hand sliced
1/2 a package of a (17oz) Flora fresh dried Pappardelle
or any other dry noodles
salt, and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/3 cup pure vegetable oil
1 pat, ( a Tbsp) butter (opt.)
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 cup cooking water saved, from the pasta

Halfway through the sauteing process

Grate, or slice finely with a good sharp knife, by cutting the cabbage in half, cutting out the cores, and discard the outer dark leaves. Cut cabbage into smaller wedges that can fit into the chute of a food processor, of slice the wedges into fairly thin slices. Heat oil in a large skillet and add the cabbage and chopped onion, directly into the skillet, Don't worry if it seems a lot, it will cook down, just have patience sauteing it, and slightly caramelizing it. Add salt, and pepper, start stirring, on med. high heat, and lowering heat, when it starts to get some color, and starts to get translucent, along with the onions. At this stage, you can add the sugar to start to caramelize. Don't leave it alone, you constantly have to stir, probably in all, about 45 minutes to an hour. No joke...unless you want to have a burned awful mess, because the sugar caramelizes quite fast, so at this point you have to lower the temperature to low. In the meantime, boil the noodles, or Pappardelle, and drain, saving at least 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Add the cooked pasta, right into the skillet, the 1 Tablespoon butter if you like, and add the reserved water, to loosen it. This will give it a nice body, and texture. Add more salt, and pepper to it, and serve. This is at least 4 servings, and very tasty, if you are a cabbage lover, like we are. Great, as a leftover to heat up, and serve as a side dish.

Fettuccine Alfredo

Image via Wikipedia

Fettuccine Alfredo is such an easy pasta dish to make. I recommend dry pasta for this. I tried it with homemade pasta, but it just seems to soak up all the sauce, and you need more sauce than recipe requires. This one also soaks it all up but just to the point of perfection.

There are quite a few versions of this, but I just like to use my version for now. Heavy cream, unsalted butter, imported parmigiana cheese-lots of it, a small amount of freshly grated nutmeg, very little sea salt, and fresh grated tricolor pepper. A small amount of snipped fresh parsley on the top. This is what 8 ounces looks like, not to mention what 16 ounces would look like. You can feed an army with one pound of pasta, This portion generously feeds at least 2 adults. and perhaps 2 children. Very filling, and oh so tasty.

This is what 1/4 pound looks like. Parsley already mixed in, not just for decoration. A nice glass of good quality Chardonnay, or Pinot Grigio goes well with it. This is so filling, you may not even want to have a salad with it, just another glass of wine, and a nice espresso later.

I highly recommend De Cecco pasta, one of the best out there. My favorite supermarket had this on sale, 3 for $5.00. What a bargain. They usually cost nearly $3.00 or more, for a 16 ounce box. Check for bugs, in the box! Maybe it's old?...Not to worry, just kidding. Our supermarket is immaculate, and everything is dated, and all the fresh produce could not be better, even at the produce market, unless you have your own garden.

These wonderful graters work best. The larger one I've had, since I don't know when, it's at least 30 years old,  Ekco brand, made in the U.S.A. The smaller one with the fine grating is a Farberware. Both are stainless steel and they last forever.

Recipe for Fettuccine Alfredo:
Fettuccine Alfredo
8 ozs. of dry De Cecco fettuccine (half a box of a 16oz.)
1 cup of heavy cream
4 tablespoon (1/4 lb.) unsalted butter
3/4 cup imported parmigiana (Parmesan cheese)
small amount of freshly grated nutmeg (dry is good too)
A small amount of snipped, (not chopped) parsley. (snip it with a kitchen scissor)
very small amount of sea salt
fresh grated tricolor pepper, or black pepper (I don't use white pepper)
1/2 cup cooking water reserved
In a large skillet, melt butter with cream, and 1/4 cup of the grated Parmesan. Slowly heat, and stir, until it gets nice and thick. In the meantime, boil pasta until al-dente, saving 1/2 cup of the cooking water.(I always save at least one cup for reserve.) Mix the pasta with the sauce, right into the large, skillet. It should be at least a 12 inch skillet, or a large pot, if you prefer. Now, grated the nutmeg, the sea salt, careful, not to add too much because the cheese is salty too. add another 1/4 cup portion of the cheese. At this point, the pasta has absorbed quite amount of the sauce, so you need to thin it out a little, with the reserved cooking water, a small amount while you are heating up the pasta. When it's nicely incorporated, put it into a medium serving bowl, or separate serving plates. Dived the cheese to sprinkle on top, and add parsley, not just for presentation, but it really tastes very nice with it.
Serves at least 3.