THE ORIGINAL FETTUCCINE ALFREDO

  Fettuccine Alfredo is one of Italy’s most wondrous exports. A perfect pairing of rich, creamy sauce and perfectly cooked pasta that serves equally well as a main dish or as a side to nearly anything you feel like serving with it. It’s complex yet simple, filling and decadent. What could be more wonderful?
  Now what if I told you that every recipe that you’ve probably ever seen for Fettuccine Alfredo was wrong? What if I told you that it was probably the most simple dish in the world to make? What if I told you that Mr. Alfredo’s Fettuccine has been done a glaring disservice by a million cooks, including renown chefs around the world. 
 Alfredo, it seems, created the dish for his wife, who had lost her appetite after
giving birth to their son. His modified Fettuccine al Burro featured far more butter than the original, a combination that “…neither his wife or his customers could resist.”
While most versions I’ve seen are fairly complex and require a fair bit of attention to detail, the original Fettuccine Alfredo has just four ingredients and takes mere minutes to make, but results in a dish far more complex and wondrous than any Alfredo.

This came from another blog, http://www.cookingbytheseatofmypants.com/recipes/fettuccine-alfredorecipe

Photo: Landon Nordeman

Mixing the ingredients on a warmed platter will help them melt quickly to make a satiny sauce. For the best results, use dried pasta, which doesn't break as easily during tossing as fresh egg pasta does. 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb. dried fettuccine
• 1⁄2 lb. unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• 1⁄2 lb. finely grated parmesan (about 3 1⁄4 cup)

DIRECTIONS:

1.  Bring a 6-qt. pot of salted water to a boil. Add fettuccine and cook, stirring   occasionally, until pasta is al dente, about 8 minutes.

2.  Meanwhile, cut butter into thin pats and transfer to a large, warmed platter. Drain pasta, reserving 3⁄4 cup pasta water, and place the pasta over the butter on the platter.

3.  Sprinkle grated parmesan over the pasta and drizzle with 1⁄4 cup of the reserved pasta water.

4.  Using a large spoon and fork, gently toss the pasta with the butter and cheese, lifting and swirling the 

noodles and adding more pasta water as necessary. (The pasta water will help create a smooth sauce.) 

Work in any melted butter and cheese that pools around the edges of the platter. Continue to mix the 

pasta until the cheese and butter have fully melted and the noodles are coated, about 3 minutes. (For a 

quicker preparation, bring the reserved 3⁄4 cup pasta water and the butter to a boil in a 12" skillet; then 

add the pasta, sprinkle with the cheese, and toss with tongs over medium-low heat until the pasta is

creamy and coated, about 2 minutes.)

5.  Serve the fettuccine immediately on warmed plates.

SERVES 4 – 6

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #120