I Love Italian Food
I absolutely love eating Italian food, and my favorite food in the world is Chicken Alfredo.
I more or less became a connoisseur of Alfredo, got it anywhere it was available and presumed to be good. Eventually, I learned to doctor up the Alfredo that restaurants had and make it better, learned what seasonings to add when it lacked flavor, learned to add more Parmesan cheese if it wasn't thick enough.
Well, one day a young woman came to stay with me for a couple months, she had been in foster care since she was 9 and ran away from foster care at 17, and was moving from place to place getting kicked out constantly because of her attitude, that's another story, but she came to stay with me and I took care of her for a time when she was 18 (and turned 19 while there with me).
I had tried making Alfredo from scratch once before, the seasoning was very good but I had burned the sauce due to a crappy stove and pan, but I had been given an induction cooktop and decided to try using that. It came out good, very good. You see, both her favorite food and mine is Alfredo, and she is very picky, and I didn't have a lot of money to spare for expensive food, so I made it myself.
I made Alfredo nearly every day for the approximately two months she stayed with me, and I got better and better at making it. By the end, my Alfredo was better than the restaurants that I had gotten it at, at least on par with the best ones that I'd had.
I've continued improving the recipe and presently have two variants, the cheap one and the higher quality one. The seasoning mix that I use is the same: garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, onion powder, lemon pepper, basil. The cheaper variant is made with standard Parmesan cheese, the kind that you find on your table at a restaurant, milk, butter, and olive oil. Can also add mozzarella cheese to that variant. The superior high quality variant is made with fresh Parmesan, mozzarella, heavy cream, butter, and olive oil.
Once the noodles are made and the water poured out, I add in the milk or heavy cream, the butter, and the olive oil with all of the seasonings (that I mix in a small cup before and pour in at once) and bring it to a boil, and then add the Parmesan (a little at a time if it's the powder, stirring it in then adding more), and the mozzarella last.
I prefer to use Rigatoni noodles (also known as Ziti Rigati) because my thick sauce gets all in the noodles and it's a very nice experience.
I use one whole stick of butter per recipe, and usually about a half cup of olive oil.
I prefer my high quality variant Alfredo to anywhere I know to get it, the one at Olive Garden is awful by comparison. I could eat it every day, and literally do miss eating it every day when my loved one (Ashley) came to stay with me.
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Update:
New recipe uses one standard package of shredded Parmesan, the larger size heavy cream found in most grocery stores, a third of a standard package of mozzarella, about half a cup of olive oil, some grated Parmesan to thicken and added on top when served, a third to a half stick of butter, and about half a cup of crumbled Feta cheese as a secret ingredient added in last (burns very easily)
I also make the noodles separate from the sauce now. I've also sometimes made it separately without noodles. Ironic enough the best sauce I ever made was made to put on steak.
I fried the steak in olive oil and used the same seasoning mix that I use in my Alfredo (minus the basil), adding seasoning every time that I flip the moment it comes up, so that the seasoning sticks and then gets fried onto the steak.
It was so good that my friends and I got totally absorbed in eating it and totally forgot about the garlic bread we had in the oven.
I more or less became a connoisseur of Alfredo, got it anywhere it was available and presumed to be good. Eventually, I learned to doctor up the Alfredo that restaurants had and make it better, learned what seasonings to add when it lacked flavor, learned to add more Parmesan cheese if it wasn't thick enough.
Well, one day a young woman came to stay with me for a couple months, she had been in foster care since she was 9 and ran away from foster care at 17, and was moving from place to place getting kicked out constantly because of her attitude, that's another story, but she came to stay with me and I took care of her for a time when she was 18 (and turned 19 while there with me).
I had tried making Alfredo from scratch once before, the seasoning was very good but I had burned the sauce due to a crappy stove and pan, but I had been given an induction cooktop and decided to try using that. It came out good, very good. You see, both her favorite food and mine is Alfredo, and she is very picky, and I didn't have a lot of money to spare for expensive food, so I made it myself.
I made Alfredo nearly every day for the approximately two months she stayed with me, and I got better and better at making it. By the end, my Alfredo was better than the restaurants that I had gotten it at, at least on par with the best ones that I'd had.
I've continued improving the recipe and presently have two variants, the cheap one and the higher quality one. The seasoning mix that I use is the same: garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, parsley, onion powder, lemon pepper, basil. The cheaper variant is made with standard Parmesan cheese, the kind that you find on your table at a restaurant, milk, butter, and olive oil. Can also add mozzarella cheese to that variant. The superior high quality variant is made with fresh Parmesan, mozzarella, heavy cream, butter, and olive oil.
Once the noodles are made and the water poured out, I add in the milk or heavy cream, the butter, and the olive oil with all of the seasonings (that I mix in a small cup before and pour in at once) and bring it to a boil, and then add the Parmesan (a little at a time if it's the powder, stirring it in then adding more), and the mozzarella last.
I prefer to use Rigatoni noodles (also known as Ziti Rigati) because my thick sauce gets all in the noodles and it's a very nice experience.
I use one whole stick of butter per recipe, and usually about a half cup of olive oil.
I prefer my high quality variant Alfredo to anywhere I know to get it, the one at Olive Garden is awful by comparison. I could eat it every day, and literally do miss eating it every day when my loved one (Ashley) came to stay with me.
——————————————————————————————
Update:
New recipe uses one standard package of shredded Parmesan, the larger size heavy cream found in most grocery stores, a third of a standard package of mozzarella, about half a cup of olive oil, some grated Parmesan to thicken and added on top when served, a third to a half stick of butter, and about half a cup of crumbled Feta cheese as a secret ingredient added in last (burns very easily)
I also make the noodles separate from the sauce now. I've also sometimes made it separately without noodles. Ironic enough the best sauce I ever made was made to put on steak.
I fried the steak in olive oil and used the same seasoning mix that I use in my Alfredo (minus the basil), adding seasoning every time that I flip the moment it comes up, so that the seasoning sticks and then gets fried onto the steak.
It was so good that my friends and I got totally absorbed in eating it and totally forgot about the garlic bread we had in the oven.
