Alfredo Sauce

A special occasion sauce.

Alfredo sauce is good stuff.  The best is made right on the hot pasta but that tableside procedure is not for the faint of heart.  Best just to make it in a pan ahead of time.  The worst part of this sauce is getting the cheese to melt properly.  The second worst part is that it will break/separate if reheated.

A word here about cheese.  This sauce is a cream/cheese sauce so don't even think about using pre-grated cheese.  Even the fancy ones have celulose added to prevent clumping and will wreck your sauce.

You could use salted butter in this recipe, but, depending on the particular cheese that you buy, the sauce can get too salty.  I prefer to control the sodium.

You'll need; (Photos show a double batch)

• 1 cup grated parmeseano regiano cheese. (1.5 cups if you use a microplaner)
• 1 cup whipping cream or half and half
• 6 Tbsp unsalted butter
• (opt) 1 clove garlic (minced)  (or and inch from the squeeze tube)
• nutmeg (freshly grated) (if not fresh, cut the amt in half)
• salt 
• pepper
• parsley (chopped fine)
• (opt) 1 tsp lemon zest

Prepare your MIP.

Put a small saute pan on med-low heat and melt the butter and garlic (if desired).

Add the cream and stir occasionally as it comes nearly to a simmer. Do not boil your cream/butter mixture.

Add the cheese and stir constantly while it melts.

While stirring, grate in about 1/8 tsp of fresh nutmeg.  This is about 8 passes on the microplane. (Less if dried)

Season with salt, lots of pepper, and the zest (if desired).

When the sauce is creamy and smooth you can add the parsley to the sauce, or just garnish the finished dish with parsley.