Posted by This is my husband, Bill’s favorite pasta dish. In fact, I made it for his birthday dinner recently. Because I don’t usually use recipes, I have no idea what I normally do, so this time I tried to keep track in order to share it with you!
Fettuccine Alfredo is typically a super rich dish, calling for butter, cream and parmesan cheese. Other recipe variations include shallots, garlic or cream cheese. My thought? Do whatever you want…make it your own and feel good about it! Try different things. Don’t just follow recipes exactly, add this or that and see how you like it.
To keep my recipe light, I cut back on the butter and cheese plus use evaporated milk instead of cream! It has a lot less fat and calories, which makes the dish much lighter.
Oh, and speaking of chicken (we weren’t speaking of chicken were we?), I have a super easy way of cooking chicken to eat or to use in recipes. I got this one from the Barefoot Contessa and man is it ever simple and delicious! We use this recipe all the time and love it. The chicken always tastes amazing and moist. We prefer it over cooking boneless, skinless chicken…for some reason, chicken cooked on the bone is just more flavorful and never dry.
Easy Roasted Chicken Breasts (Barefoot Contessa)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin.
Light Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 lb fettuccine noodles
- 2 T butter
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1 can evaporated milk
- 1/2 cup fine parmesan cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Fresh nutmeg, grated (optional)
- Fresh parsley (optional)
Prepare chicken your favorite way and shred or just grill and slice. I personally always use the Barefoot Contessa method because it’s simply the best! Cook fettuccine according to package instructions. Drain noodles (set aside) and reserve 1 cup of the water to use just in case your pasta is too dry. In the same pot (my way of saving pans to wash), melt butter; add garlic and saute until tender, but not burned. Add evaporated milk, parmesan, salt and pepper. Stir and simmer for a few minutes until slightly thickened. Add warm pasta and stir to combine. If too dry, add the cup of reserved pasta water. Top with more parmesan, fresh grated nutmeg and chopped fresh parsley.
Family ~ Food ~ Roots 