This is our first post here at A Hint of Hazel and we must admit we are pretty nervous (and excited), but we wanted to start this endeavor off with a bang! It’s been a long time goal of ours to take our passion for cooking and turn it into this blog. The kitchen is our safe place, our way of relaxing and spending time together and we couldn’t be more excited to share some of our favorite recipes with you!
We love our pasta…but who doesn’t, especially if it’s as creamy and cheesy as this homemade fettuccine alfredo! Even though we try to limit our nights of pasta goodness, it gets easy to buy a can of marinara sauce from the store, dump it on some pasta, sprinkle cheese and call it dinner. When we eat pasta we want to indulge, so we make sure our pasta nights are well thought out. Thanks for being part of our first ever post, we hope you like it!
This recipe is amazing and flavorful by itself, and can be kicked up a notch by adding in some grilled chicken. We chose to make dinner into date night by adding wine and homemade pasta into the mix (it’s just as good with dried pasta), but it’s also a great and quick recipe for weeknight dinners. We like to take the time for cooking and turn it into something that we do together. This makes discovering new recipes, cooking, and eating into an activity that we look forward to!
What You Need:
- 2 boneless chicken breasts (optional) seasoned with salt, pepper, powdered garlic, and Italian seasoning (basil, oregano, rosemary, and thyme)
- 1 box fettuccine noodles or homemade pasta (recipe to come later!)
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 3 cloves minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon white pepper
- 1 pinch grated nutmeg
- 2 egg yolks
- Olive oil
- 1 cup reserved cooking water from pasta
- Parsley for garnish
What You Do:
- (Optional Step) Wash and dry the meat, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Heat a large skillet to medium/high heat, add olive oil and brown both sides of the meat. Remove from pan and place aside once fully cooked.
- In the same pan, add the butter to the tasty chicken drippings and turn the heat to medium.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the noodles per the directions on the box or until the pasta floats to the top if you’re using homemade pasta!
- Once butter melts, add the garlic and cook until fragrant. About 2 minutes.
- Add the cream, white pepper, nutmeg and stir. Gently simmer until you can taste the garlic, then add the Parmesan cheese.
- This is the most IMPORTANT part of the recipe!! We don’t want to turn the yolks into scrambled eggs, we have to temper them. The process of tempering is to slowly bring the heat to your yolks with hot liquid so we don’t get breakfast over dinner! For this step, put the yolks in a small bowl and mix tablespoons of the sauce into the yolk and whisk. Once the mixture is combined you can slowly add the yolk mixture into the sauce while constantly stirring.
- Mix in the cooked pasta, serve and top with freshly chopped Parsley and any remaining Parmesan cheese.
A Hint of Hazel 