I’m gonna make fettucine alfredo with shrimp sauce and maybe some bruschetta… I need tips. For one,my alfredo sauce never seems to be thick enough, and If it is, it’s all gritty…
I’ve never made bruschetta either, and Imay choose to go garlic bread, so tips on that would be good too…
Thanks y’all…
“C’mon, it’s not even tomorrow yet…” - Rupert
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These links are from our very own Chef Troy’s message board. Mmmmmm, alfredo. Good luck.
Alfredo sauce is easy. For 1 pound of pasta, saute 1 garlic clove (if you like garlic. if not, leave it out) in 4 Tablespoons of butter. Add in 1 cup of heavy cream. Cook for 3-4 minutes, until it’s hot and thickened a little. Pour over cooked pasta along with 1-1.5 cups of shredded parmesan cheese.
I’d grill the shrimp, or saute 'em with the garlic. Then add to the pasta when you add the parmesan.
Note: You probably know this, but you have to get good parmesan for this. Absolutely don’t use the stuff in the green can. Get a block of parmesan and grate it yourself, if possible. Otherwise, get the pre-grated stuff, but make sure it’s a good brand and fresh!
I’ve never mad bruschetta, so I’m no help there…
I’ve never MADE bruschetta. Sorry 'bout that.
Also, you can add the parmesan to the cream and melt it if you want. Just make sure not to overcook it, or it’ll get stringy. I’ve found, though, that adding it to hot pasta when you add the hot cream at the same time melts it just fine. Probably wouldn’t work if the pasta’s been sitting a while, though.
Bruschetta is the easiest stuff in the world to make:
Roughly dice three fresh, ripe, seeded* tomatoes.
Finely chop 4 medium cloves of garlic.
Toss in a bowl with a good olive oil and a teaspoon of dried oregano or a table of fresh. Let rest in fridge for at least an hour.
Slice a loaf of good bread (Italian is best, but any crusty, dense bread’ll work). lightly brush bread with olive oil. Toast the bread in a hot oven (400 degrees) until lightly brown. Use a metal cooling rack to sit the bread on. Don’t use a tray or pan. If you don’t have a cooling rack, just place the bread carefully on the oven racks.
Pile the tomato mixture atop the toast and serve.
Variations: You can add green onions, fresh mozzarella or just about anything else you want. Remember though it should be light and not tend to sit in your stomach.
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Just wanted to reinforce this point. Cook them as soon to serving time as possible, and don’t cook them for long. Tough or rubbery shimp are nasty.
Also, for something different, put a little bit of hummus on your bruschetta. It’s killer!
“It is now proved beyond doubt that smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.”
Not really a hijack here – a small detour maybe?
Hubby liked to “impressa” me with his cooking when we first met. Heck, he still does. His first wife was Italian and he learned spaghetti sauce from her dad. Puts hard-cooked eggs in it – anyone else do that? Sounds weird but it’s good.
Anyway, he says we’re having manicotti for dinner one night and I’m getting all impressed. Get over to his house and he’s got the “manicotti” in his slow cooker.
Sits me down at the dining table, serves the salad and bread, then brings me a plate with the “manicotti.”
Well, it was manicotti style pasta all right, but he’d “stuffed” them with hot dogs!
I complimented him on the great dinner, and have never told a living soul till now.
Nobody’s gonna laugh at **my[/] old man’s cooking!
Or my continued mishaps with this damned code either.
Two variations on the bruscetta recipe that ChiefScott gave: You can add chopped fresh basil to the tomato, garlic, and olive oil mixture just before you spoon it over the bread. And for a different flavor, spread the bread with goat’s milk cheese and drizzle olive oil on top before putting it in the oven. As Athena noted, the most important thing is that the cheese (heck, all of the ingredients) be the best quality possible.
Sounds like a terrific meal! What are your plans for dessert?
Sounds like a killer meal, Rory. If you need more help on the Alredo sauce check out Gail’s Recipe Swap at: http://www. epicurious.com
They have a great search engine. Just plug in Alfredo and start salivating.
BTW, it helps to make the Alfredo in a nonstick skillet. (I’ve used well-seasoned cast iron and it worked fine.) The extra space seems to help the sauce thicken.
Everybody above was right; the key is the best ingredients you can find. Use good, freshly grated parmesan; you can also bobbit in some Romano if you want.
Sounds like a pretty filling meal. For dessert you might try fresh fruit doused with a little wine, or heck, go with some Haagen Daz lemon sorbet.
Go for it, Rory! If you treat me right I’ll send you my never-fail, easy as can be, knock
'em senseless Chicken Kiev recipe.
Good luck!
Veb
Give her a couple of glasses of great wine first, she won’t mind how the food is later.
>>Being Chaotic Evil means never having to say your sorry…unless the other guy is bigger than you.<<
—The dragon observes
I use equal quantities freshly grated parmasan cheese, heavy cream and butter. Heat slowly and don’t over-cook or it will be lumpy.
In another pan… Sauté a sliced portobello (sp?) mushroom in olive oil and crushed garlic. (Or: Sauté sliced chicken breast in olive oil and crushed garlic.) When it’s done, add to the alfredo sauce and immediately pour over angelhair pasta. Voila! “Capellini al fredo con funghi” (or “con pollo”)!
Bumping this back up so RoryG can let us know how the dinner turned out. Or has it happened yet?
The dinner is probably already over, but I’ll add a few comments also.
Chief–
Thanks, I’ve been trying to remember how to make bruschetta ever since I got back from Sicily…it never comes out the way I remember.
One of my favorite pasta meals is as follows (no, I can’t spell the name in Italian…make up your own name and just enjoy it)
Go to the store, and get every kind of fresh hot pepper you can find. I usually end up with at least 4 types. Jalepenio, Scottish…etc. Dice them up into small pieces…pour some olive oil in the bottom of a medium skillet (about 1 cup or so)…let it warm up until it is simmering…add the peppers…and a little fresh parsley, and a strip of bacon that you have sliced up. Let simmer on a low heat…this is very important…while you want the peppers to be brown, by cooking is slowly, you get a nice spicy taste to the oil…if you heat it too fast, it’s not as hot(spicy hot). Stir frequently…once the peppers have started to turn a nice golden brown, add about 1 tablespoon minced garlic…simmer for another few minutes, and pour over pasta of your choice. Depending on what peppers you use, it can come out to be very spicy, or milder in taste. This cooks very quickly, so be sure to have your pasta on at the same time…by the time the pasta is done, your sauce should be also. Enjoy!
I totally forgot about this thread. As it turns out,she cancelled… rough day teaching skiing. But I made her promise me a rain check, so I’ll have a chance to practice your tips before I try 'em out again.
The more I think about it, the more interested I am in learning how to cook realy well… what’s a good method? Are there decent schools? Or is it a practice thing? Thanks for all your help guys
“C’mon, it’s not even tomorrow yet…” - Rupert
If you need a graphic solution, http:\ alk.to\Piglet
Okay, I’m gonna give you a really easy and way impressive thing to make as an appetizer or side treat. Start with some pita bread,cut them into pie shaped pieces (large or small you choose), be sure to seperate/open the pockets into seperate pieces, now spread with garlic butter (preferably with parsley in it), and bake at 400 degrees until browned. Golden or chocolate brown is up to up, can be made ahead of time and kept in an airtight container. They can be served with a dip or alone and are too tasty to discribe. I work for a swish catering company and people are always asking me where they can get them and are crushed when I tell them that we make them ourselves, I am, of course, forbidden to tell them the ‘secret’ recipe. I’m telling you, you gotta try this it is very, very tasty.Good luck to you !
Of course ren-man can really impress the ladies with home-made brew too.
Just say no.
Loverock used smilies, and see where it got him?
Pardon my bragging, but I’ve been told by someone in the restaurant biz that I’m the best home cook he knows. Point is, I never cooked anything more complicated than chocolate chip cookies until I got into graduate school. The way I did it was to get some good basic cookbooks and follow them to the letter. By “good” I mean the kind that go beyond tuna casserole and pot roast–Joy of Cooking and Julia Child’s books come to mind. The other thing I did was to cook what I liked. If I had a great curry at an Indian restaurant, I’d get an Indian cookbook and try to make it myself. You learn a lot of great technique that way. It also helped to be living in Berkeley where you could find even the most exotic ingredients pretty easily.
Sigh. I miss cooking. My oldest kid is 2 1/2 right now and it’s hard to spare more than half an hour on cooking these days.
Here’s a UBB Cooking message board.
“Many count their chickens before they are hatched; and where they expect bacon, meet with broken bones.”
–Miguel de Cervantes–