Fettuccine Alfredo
By Groceree
Rome's fettuccine al burro: fresh egg pasta turned through soft butter and parmigiano until the two thicken into a sauce, slackened with a little cooking water. There is no cream in it and no pan on the flame, because the whole thing is made in a hot bowl.
Last updated
- Servings
- 4 servings
- Prep
- 10 min
- Cook
- 5 min
- Total
- 15 min
Ingredients
fresh egg fettuccine400 g
unsalted butter150 g
Parmigiano Reggiano150 g
salt
Instructions
- 01
Cube the and leave it out until it gives under your thumb. Grate the on the smallest holes you have, so it falls as powder rather than shreds.
- 02
Fill a wide serving bowl with boiling water and leave it standing there while the pasta cooks. The bowl is doing the job a pan would normally do, so it has to be properly hot.
- 03
Boil the in a large pan of water seasoned generously with for 2 to 3 minutes, until just tender. Fresh egg pasta gives up a great deal of starch, so the water turns thick fast. Save a mugful of it.
- 04
Tip the water out of the serving bowl and wipe it dry. Put the in the bottom and lift the drained straight on top of it, still wet.
- 05
Scatter over a third of the and turn the pasta with a fork and spoon, lifting it up and over rather than stirring it round. Add the rest of the cheese in two more handfuls, with a spoonful of hot pasta water between them.
- 06
Keep turning for 1–2 minutes, until the and cheese have thickened into a pale sauce that wraps every ribbon. If it looks oily or pulls into strings, another splash of water and more turning brings it back together.
- 07
Serve out of the same bowl, immediately, while the sauce is still loose enough to slide.
Notes
- The American version with double cream is a different sauce wearing the same name. Alfredo di Lelio's plate worked because it went from bowl to fork in seconds; cream was added abroad to make something that survives a restaurant pass and a long walk to the table. It is stable and mild where this is sharp and fragile.
- Cheese aged much past two years has lost the moisture it needs to melt smoothly and breaks into grains instead. A 12 to 24 month parmigiano behaves far better here than an old, crumbly one.
- Temperature is the whole trick, and in the opposite direction to most sauces: butter soft, bowl scalding, pasta straight out of the water. Cold butter sits in lumps and a cold bowl stops the sauce before it ever forms.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 740 kcal
- Protein
- 26 g
- Carbs
- 66 g
- Fat
- 44 g
Estimated from the ingredients.
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