one pot pasta alfredo

[beergut]

I know there is a recipe board for pasta, but the last posts on there are from over a year ago. 

I cook a lot of Italian food, for obvious reasons.

A constant source of consternation is that the stove at GF's takes forever to boil water in the large pasta pots I use when cooking. I've been trying to find a quicker way to do this, because it isn't practical to come home from work and then take  over an hour to cook the pasta and a sauce for dinner, you end up eating a really late dinner. 

I've found a solution, one-pot pasta alfredo. 

The kids like the marinara sauce I make, but really love alfredo sauce. 

Using a skillet, put in one pound of pasta (I like using penne, but any type of pasta will do, doesn't have to be fettucine). Pour in one to two cups of water (enough to slightly cover the pasta), then turn the stove on high. Toss in a pinch of salt to taste. The water will quickly come to a boil and begin cooking the pasta. Stir the pasta so it doesn't stick. At about 8-9 minutes, the pasta will be cooked al dente. 

At about 9 minutes, most or all of the water will have evaporated. Turn stove down to medium, and put in 5-7 pats of cutter, roughly one cup. (You cut the butter up so it will melt quicker.) Stir the pasta and get it coated with the butter. Now pour in 2 cups of heavy cream. (I use Land O Lakes brand, it works fine.) Stir the cream to mix it with the butter and pasta. Now add cheeses. I like to use both mozzarella and parmesan, slowly shredding it off the block. The shaved cheese will melt quickly in the skillet, so stir and let it incorporate with the sauce. (If they don't sell the block cheese near you, just use shredded.)

Add garlic powder, 1-3 tablespoons, depending on how much you like garlic (the kids love it), and stir in sauce.

Add salt and pepper to taste, take pot off stove, pour pasta into a bowl, and serve. 

Total cooking time is 20 minutes, and the kids have an easy meal they enjoy. And you only have to clean one pot when you do the dishes.

Ingredients:

1 lb pasta
2 cups water (roughly)
pinch of salt
1 cup of butter
2 cups heavy cream
block of parmesan cheese
block of mozzarella cheese
1-3 tbsp of garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste

Buon appetito 

[Anne_in_VA]

I like this recipe and am going to try it soon.  Have you tried putting shredded or cubed chicken and or veggies in?

[andi9899]

I make a lemon pepper version and grate lemon zest over the top of it. The girls love it. I'm wondering if a little garlic would be a little much to add to mine.

[yogiii]

heart attack city!

[MJ2.0]

I haven't made alfredo sauce in a long time because I'm trying to cut a lot of the heavy creams out of my diet. When I make it, I use this recipe:
allrecipes.com/recipe/19402/quick-and-easy-alfredo-sauce/?internalSource=search%20result&referringContentType=search%20results

That one does look a lot easier than mine though (and uses less dishes!). I also like adding spinach leaves to make it more complete as a meal. I guess you can add grilled chicken as well.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Nov 6, 2015 9:48:17 GMT -5 yogiii said:

heart attack city!

Eat well.  Stay fit.  Die anyway.

Might as well eat some pasta alfredo.  

[yogiii]

Nov 6, 2015 9:55:31 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

Nov 6, 2015 9:48:17 GMT -5 yogiii said:

heart attack city!

Eat well.  Stay fit.  Die anyway.

Might as well eat some pasta alfredo.  

If I'm hogging out I go the ice cream and chocolate route

[NancysSummerSip]

Ingredients:

1 lb pasta
2 cups water (roughly)
pinch of salt
1 cup of butter
2 cups heavy cream
block of parmesan cheese
block of mozzarella cheese
1-3 tbsp of garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste

Beergut hates us, but in a good way. I have a 4-mile race and a triathlon at the end of this month, right after my annual bloodwork. I may have to make this after I do all three of those things.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Nov 6, 2015 9:56:49 GMT -5 yogiii said:

Nov 6, 2015 9:55:31 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

Eat well.  Stay fit.  Die anyway.

Might as well eat some pasta alfredo.  

If I'm hogging out I go the ice cream and chocolate route

I'm a cakey-whipped cream kind of girl myself.  

[MJ2.0]

Nov 6, 2015 9:48:17 GMT -5 yogiii said:

heart attack city!

having it 2-3 times a year isn't going to kill you. Jesus.

Although I use cream cheese (reduced fat), parmesan, 1 or 2% milk, and butter as the dairy in mine. You don't really need all that cheese IMO.

[NancysSummerSip]

Nov 6, 2015 10:00:14 GMT -5 MJ2.0 said:

Nov 6, 2015 9:48:17 GMT -5 yogiii said:

heart attack city!

having it 2-3 times a year isn't going to kill you. Jesus.

And if it did, it would be a helluva good way to go.

[Deleted]

I have been craving alfredo lately! I am going to try this soon.

[Apple]

Just wondering how large the "blocks" are.

[Cookies Galore]

Nov 6, 2015 9:57:27 GMT -5 NancysSummerSip said:

Ingredients:

1 lb pasta
2 cups water (roughly)
pinch of salt
1 cup of butter
2 cups heavy cream
block of parmesan cheese
block of mozzarella cheese
1-3 tbsp of garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste

Beergut hates us, but in a good way. I have a 4-mile race and a triathlon at the end of this month, right after my annual bloodwork. I may have to make this after I do all three of those things.

That's a marathon calorie-deficit meal!

[chiver78]

that recipe board may not have had posts in a long time, but it's still where recipe posts go - if for no other reason than that it will be easiest to find this thread later. I'll move it now.

-chiver mod

[beergut]

Total amount of cheese is roughly half a cup, if that. I honestly didn't measure, just grated it into the sauce, and moved on.

You're not using the whole block of cheese   just shredding some of both blocks into the sauce. 

[beergut]

 And it appears that by moving this to a board that gets no traffic, you killed my thread. 

[Artemis Windsong]

The all recipes alfredo is what I make.

I usually have left over sauce so I use it for chicken artichoke pizza.  I buy the premade crusts from Dollar Tree.

[MJ2.0]

Nov 8, 2015 21:31:14 GMT -5 beergut said:

 And it appears that by moving this to a board that gets no traffic, you killed my thread. 

Basically.

[Deleted]

I'm not sure what response you expected, beergut.  I mean, you post a recipe, and we say thank you.  It is hardly controversial (well, maybe the calorie and fat content are).  It is nice of you to share, but what response exactly did you think posting a recipe deserved?

Actually, I am more likely to find it here again than in the Off-Topic thread because there IS so little traffic.  It would be lost in a week on Off-Topic.

[beergut]

Nov 13, 2015 18:18:45 GMT -5 @bamafan1954 said:

I'm not sure what response you expected, beergut.  I mean, you post a recipe, and we say thank you.  It is hardly controversial (well, maybe the calorie and fat content are).  It is nice of you to share, but what response exactly did you think posting a recipe deserved?

Actually, I am more likely to find it here again than in the Off-Topic thread because there IS so little traffic.  It would be lost in a week on Off-Topic.

It isn't that I'm expecting a certain response, it is what happened right after they made the decision to move the thread. This post had 13 replies over two hours, then it is moved. I replied after it was moved. Two days go by, no replies. That is why I made the remark about killing the thread. 13 replies in two hours means we have a decent thread; 0 replies in two days means the thread is dead. 

We appeared to be having a decent discussion before chiver decided to move the thread and kill it. 

There is a policy on these boards that if there has been 30 days since the last reply on a topic, the topic is most likely dead, so no need to reply. Better off to make a new thread if you have something substantial to say about the topic. Well, what does it say when no one has posted on a board for an entire year? Maybe that board is dead. 

If they want to have an archive to keep recipes, that is a great idea. However, since there is no traffic on this board, I don't see the reason for the insistence that this topic be moved, other than moderators being anal about topic placement. Off-Topic means anything not related to Your Money financial topics, and my story of why I turned to a one-pot approach for cooking is certainly Off Topic. 

[moon/Laura]

And it also says there are exceptions to that rule. Recipe threads would be an exception, in my opinion.

And, as chiver explained, people aren't going to look for a recipe on ymot.

[beergut]

 Judging by the lack of traffic on here, people aren't looking for recipes on here, either. 

 When I originally made this post, it was more of a story on why I went to the one-pot method. Realizing as I wrote it that people would probably wants an explanation of the process and then the ingredients, I added the recipe. 

Figuring there is probably a recipe board, I went looking, found the pasta board, noticed there were no posts from the last year, and decided to post it on Off-Topic as originally planned. 

[dogmom]

Just saw this.  I think I'm going to try the recipe.  Thanks Beergut. 

[NoNamePerson]

Not dead, it showed up in New Topics. That's how I found it and I don't even cook but considered this a bump post!!

[moon/Laura]

It may not be an active area, but just how long did you think it was going to stay visible on ymot? It would have dropped off very quickly there, never to be seen again. I'm not trying to be a biotch, just saying that your location isn't any more ideal than what you think this is.