This Traditional Style Alfredo Sauce recipe makes for the perfect Fettuccine Alfredo, just like you would get in Rome.
Fettuccine Alfredo or “fettuccine all’Alfredo” is a dish made with fettuccine pasta combined with a sauce made from Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and butter.
The dish was named after Alfredo Di Lelio. Between the 1910s and the 1950s he owned a popular restaurant named Alfredo all’Augusteo in Piazza Augusto Imperatore in the center of Rome. Starting in 1914 this restaurant began serving “fettuccine all’Alfredo. Fettuccine Alfredo is an exaggerated variation of “pasta al burro” or pasta with butter–a dish that Italians understand better as something that would be cooked at home for simplicity and comfort.
Today, the restaurant, now called “Il Vero Alfredo – Alfredo di Roma”, is run by the granddaughter of Alfredo Di Lelio, Ines Di Lelio.
Fettuccine is the traditional pasta for Alfredo and its variations because the broad noodles provide just the right platform for the butter fat and cheese. Fresh egg pasta is greatly preferred by some over dried pasta for cream and cheese sauces because the sauce sometimes clings more readily to fresh pasta than it does to dried.
Traditional Style Alfredo Sauce
This Traditional Style Alfredo Sauce recipe makes for the perfect Fettuccine Alfredo, just like you would get in Rome.
Ingredients
- 2 sticks of butter, unsalted and softened to room temperature
- 8 oz Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (aged 24 months), grated
- Salt
- 1 pound fettuccine egg noodles
Instructions
- Whisk together the butter and grated Parmesan-Reggiano cheese until it is creamy. Both ingredients combined should be on the thick side.
- Put water to boil in a large pot and prepare the noodles until al dente
- Drain the noodles and reserve 1/2 cup of liquid to emulsify your sauce
- Put noodles back in the warm pot and stir in the butter and cheese mixture with vigorous turning motion while adding pasta water until the noodles are glistening and smooth.
- Add salt to taste
Nutrition Information
Yield 4 Serving Size 4 oz pasta with sauceAmount Per Serving Calories 870Total Fat 63gSaturated Fat 38gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 21gCholesterol 182mgSodium 1182mgCarbohydrates 52gFiber 2gSugar 1gProtein 24g
Nutrition data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix, and should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate.
