Fettuccine Alfredo

Fresh fettuccine emulsified with butter and parmesan and nothing else at all.

Egg. Not vegetarian — contains parmesan whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 500 g fresh egg fettuccine
• 180 g unsalted butter, very soft
• 180 g parmesan, grated to a powder
• 2 teaspoons salt, for the pasta water
• black pepper

Method

1. THERE ARE THREE INGREDIENTS AND NO CREAM. The sauce is an emulsion of butter, cheese and starchy water, and cream is a way of getting a similar thickness without having to make one. Both are worth eating; this is the one with three ingredients.
2. Have the butter genuinely soft, not melted, and grate the parmesan to a powder rather than a shred. Coarse cheese will not go into the emulsion and sits in strings instead.
3. Boil the fettuccine in LESS water than usual so what you keep is thick with starch. Fresh pasta takes 2 to 3 minutes.
4. Warm a wide bowl. Put the soft butter in it with a ladle of pasta water and work it with a spoon until it goes cloudy and creamy.
5. Drain the pasta and tip it in, then add the parmesan in three goes, tossing hard between each with more pasta water.
6. WORK IT OFF THE HEAT AND KEEP TOSSING. The sauce comes together from the agitation, not from cooking — stop early and it is buttery water with cheese in it, put it on a flame and the parmesan tightens into strings.
7. Serve the moment it is glossy, with pepper.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes