Creamy alfredo sauce gets turned up a notch in this Roasted Garlic Fettuccine Alfredo recipe. Perfect with a salad and garlic bread for a quick dinner.
I had plans for Sunday. Actually my kids and I did.
We’d go to a book signing. The author is a lovely artist I’ve interviewed several times but never met in person, and I was excited to have her sign some of them. We’d drop by a holiday photo booth for a family shot for our holiday cards. There are so few pictures of my kids and I — beyond selfies — and I thought it would be nice to have. And we’d do our grocery shopping, pick up some new decorations for Christmas and start decorating the house. Perhaps we’d even bake.
It was a rare Sunday where the kids were home, and I wanted to make the most of it and get much done.
But you know what they say about the best-laid plans.
All of those plans were formulated before my car conked out on the highway on Thanksgiving. The plans came before I discovered that the garage I use was closed from Thanksgiving until Monday. And they were completely thwarted when, after my visiting family left, I discovered that we didn’t have enough butter to bake. It was raining too — so the potential walk downtown to attend the signing and the photo booth were out too.
In the end, after a busy holiday weekend, relaxing seemed the best course of action. We don’t have many days where we just relax and hang out.
We stayed in our cozy, warm pajamas all day. A holiday movie marathon kept us entertained — the original Miracle on 34th Street, Home Alone, The Polar Express and more. And we made ornaments, using a fun ornament tutorial I spotted on Pinterest. For lunch, it was comfort food — a creamy, delicious pasta.
Roasted Garlic Fettuccine Alfredo. It’s like the classic recipe, but better.
Yes, we made the best of the day — even though it didn’t go as planned. At all.
This fettuccine alfredo is a little different from your traditional recipe. It begins with delightful, pleasantly garlicky, slightly sweet roasted garlic, which gives the sauce a rich flavor. I highly suggest roasting heads of garlic and keeping them in the fridge to use throughout the week. But if you’re making it to enjoy with this dish, you’ll need to start early — the garlic roasting takes about an hour. Check out my tutorial on how to roast garlic to help get you started.
When it’s roasted, garlic gets so soft and mellow in flavor. None of that sharpness you’d expect from raw garlic. It even mashes easily with a fork for easy adding to recipes like this one.
Once you start cooking, the whole pasta dish comes together quickly. While the fettuccine cooks, you melt butter and then whisk it together with heavy cream and nutmeg, then roasted garlic, then parmesan cheese. Season with salt and pepper and swirl in some chopped parsley. Toss with the cooked pasta … then dig in.
Roasted Garlic Fettuccine Alfredo
Ingredients
- 1 lb fettuccine
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 cup heavy cream
- pinch ground nutmeg
- 1 head garlic, roasted (See NOTE below)
- 3/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Heat water on the stove, and cook the fettuccine according to package directions.
- While the fettuccine is cooking, melt the butter in a large saucepan on the stove. Whisk in the heavy cream and nutmeg.
- Squeeze to remove the roasted garlic cloves from the head. Using a fork, mash thoroughly. Add to the saucepan and whisk well to combine. Add the parmesan and whisk until incorporated. Taste, and season as desired with salt and pepper.
- Once the pasta is done, drain thoroughly.
- Whisk most of the parsley into the sauce, reserving only about 1 tablespoon. Then add the pasta to the sauce and toss well.
- Transfer the pasta to a bowl and sprinkle with remaining parsley. Serve.
Notes
To roast garlic, cut off the top 1/4-inch of the cloves. Remove any papery outer layers. Place in the center of an aluminum foil square, drizzle with 1 teaspoon of olive oil, seal the aluminum foil around the garlic. Roast at 400 degrees for about 1 hour.
Kate
Monday 28th of November 2016
I'm so sorry about your car! What dreadful timing!