Okay, look. Before we get started, I KNOW there are going to be some connoisseurs out there who sniff indignantly at the idea of an Alfredo sauce that isn’t made with butter and cream and egg yolks and whatever the hell REAL Alfredo sauce is made of. This isn’t intended to be an indulgence that makes your arteries slam shut immediately upon consumption and which requires you to balance the rest of your week by eating nothing but salads and drinking water. This is a LIGHT Alfredo sauce, and it’s tasty enough that you will LIKE it (unless you’re a snob, that’s right I said it!) and it’s relatively light and healthy and won’t make a dent in your diet. Capisce?
It’s also incredibly simple (though you do have to use the blender/ food processor, and those things are a pain in the ass to drag out, and then a pain in the ass to clean, but it’s so worth it.)
Ingredients:
Skim milk (you could use 2% or whole), Neufchatel cheese (you could use regular cream cheese if you want), garlic, salt and pepper, and Parmesan cheese. The original recipe calls for parsley as well, but I hate parsley so we go without.
Throw everything in your blender.
Blend it ’til there are no clumps.
Pour into a saucepan over medium heat and cook for about 10 minutes, until the sauce thickens.
On a side note, I love that pan so very very much. Several years ago, Fred’s father and stepmother gave us a set of Scanpan pots and pans. They are absolutely awesome, and I’m not kidding when I say that I expect I’ll be cooking with those pots and pans for the rest of my life. In fact, if Fred up and leaves me for another woman, I am claiming custody of the Scanpan cookware.
(Which shouldn’t bother Fred anyway, because I’m sure that whore can’t cook.)
Anyway, a few months ago Fred’s father and stepmother got a new stove, one of those ones that boils water in 30 seconds and requires special pots and pans. Fred’s father called and asked if we wanted any of their Scanpan cookware. Fred jauntily replied “No, we’re good” and then hung up and told me what his father had asked.
You better bet your ass that he called his father back immediately and told him that he’d misspoken. One of the pieces we got from them was this deep pan (which we didn’t already have, because it wasn’t part of the set they gave us initially), and I love it so much that I’m thinking of marrying it. It is beyond awesome.
See? Getting thicker. (If you’re using parsley, you’d add most of it to the sauce at this point, and save some for garnish afterward.)
Meanwhile, prepare your meat. I always use this Alfredo sauce with shrimp and angel hair (because that’s the kind of pasta we always have on hand). If you’re using chicken, you can cook the chicken in the sauce, but with seafood you’ll want to cook it separately.
This is how thick I like my Alfredo sauce. I imagine you could keep going if you wanted it thicker. It’s all about personal preferences, y’know.
I cooked my angel hair and shrimp, tossed them together, and then added the Alfredo sauce and mixed.
Don’t be too impressed by my fancy serving dish. I always mix my stuff in a big plastic container because I know we’re going to have leftovers, and why dirty more dishes than I need to?
I use two pounds of shrimp and half a pound of angel hair with the Alfredo sauce, and it works out perfectly.
- ½ c. cream cheese (I use Neufchatel)
- 1 c. milk (I use skim)
- 3 T freshly grated parmesan
- 1 clove garlic, minced or crushed
- ½ tsp each salt & pepper
- 3 T dry parsley or ½ c. fresh (I hate parsley, so we leave this out)
- Put cream cheese, milk, Parmesan, garlic, salt and pepper in blender; blend until there are no clumps. Pour into saucepan on medium heat, cook for about 10 minutes (stirring every couple of minutes). While cooking, add parsley (if fresh, chop finely) and save some for the garnish (or leave it out completely.)
- Cook your favorite pasta. Pour desired amount of Alfredo sauce over pasta. Cook selected meat in sauce to absorb flavor; if using seafood, use a different pan and then add over pasta before adding Alfredo sauce.
Wow. Looks so tasty, especially with shrimp. I will definitely make this soon. And I’m going to check out those pans, too.
Hope you like it, Amy! 🙂
YOU ARE SO FREAKING SMART! I never would have thought of THAT!
And I’m going to make this with chicken one night next week.
Trey used to call shrimp, “Little Monsters” when he was little. How cute is that? SUPER CUTE, like Trey. Except when he’s being an asshole, like now.
Every once in a while, I have a good idea, am I right? 🙂
And yes, even when he’s being an asshole, Trey is adorbs. 😀
You are most definitely right (this time, heh)! 😉
Do I dare admit that I use Prego? Just had some tonight as a matter of fact!
There would have to be a lot more stories and dog/kitten pictures to plump out the posts if the recipe was always “Open up a jar/can of Prego sauce”….
Life would be so much simpler if every recipe started with a jar of Prego! 🙂
I suppose I’ll have to see if Sadie can hold a jar on her head. That poor damn dog…
My mom went through a phase when I was younger of using Prego. I don’t know why, but I haven’t bought any because I remember not liking it (over 20 years ago). I have always doctored up Ragu…now I’m going to have to try Prego again to see if I like it now. Just because of you. 😉
I just make mine with a stick of butter, a bag of shredded parm, garlic from a squeeze jar, and milk or cream, what ever I have. I don’t put parsley in it because the heathens might think it is healthy or something. I don’t eat alfredo (it smells like feet), but everyone else likes it.
I’ve never heard the term “squeeze jar” rather than bottle. The image of you struggling to crush a glass jar cracked me up.
LOL I am originally from the other 4-states area (Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma), so I say things lots of people find unusual. Like pop and cement and squeeze jar.
Everything you said makes sense to this Pennsylvania girl, but I gotta ask…what’s another word for cement?
Bwahaha…smells like feet! I’m totally going to be thinking of that when I make this (and I hear you on the parsley, Rick makes a face when I use it and you can’t even taste it). 🙂
This looks great, I plan to try it some night this week. Do you cook the shrimp in any type of oil? Also have you ever tried adding Pancetta or something like that to the sauce? I was thinking of making it with Chicken, and adding the Pancetta for an extra treat for my husband.
I’m so ashamed to admit that I am now going to have to google Pancetta because I have no idea what it is. 🙁
I actually don’t cook the shrimp in any kind of oil, just toss them in a hot pan and let them cook. I’ve never tried adding Pancetta either, but I hope that you do it and report back – it sounds really good!!
Alfredo generally has a lot of rich flavor. Adding yummy yet salty pancetta would probably make it overkill. Pancetta is a lot better in carbonara’s or oil based sauces because it adds a ton of distinct flavor. This looks like a great weekday dinner though and a way better substitute for the canned version which are almost always too rich and packed with sodium.
Now I’m craving Carbonara. I sense a recipe search in 3…2… 🙂
This sounds wonderful! Question: Have y’all tried the “Philadelphia Cooking Creme” stuff from Kraft in any of your recipes? They’re supposedly “heavily seasoned” cream cheeses that you add to recipes like this, for lazy beeeatches like myself who can’t be bothered to spice up the cream cheese recipes on my own. If you’ve tried them, what did you think? I don’t know how they stack up next to regular or the neufchatel on fat/calories. Yes, I could just try them on my own, but didn’t you see my “lazy beeeatch” confession? 🙂
I have eyeballed the “cooking creme” stuff, but have never actually used any of it. I think you should try it and then report back, is what I think. 😀
(Lazy beeeatches unite!)
I totally agree with Robyn (miracle, huh?) because “one” of us lazy beeeatches has to break down and do it. Your turn!
I tried the cooking creme and while its very flavorful most of them are exceedingly too rich for me and require a lot of watering down with milk.
Regarding blender/food processor cleanup…I fill it up about 1/2 way with warm water, add a few drops of dishwashing liquid, then pop it on the blender and blend for a few seconds. Then rinse away the suds and voila! No finger cuts from reaching into the blender to get into all the nooks and crannies.
(Hi! De-lurking! Now going back into hiding, but I also wanted to say I love this blog!)
I absolutely adore this idea – and I am SO going to do this next time I use the blender. I hate putting it in the dishwasher (which is what I usually do) because it takes up so much room. I shall call it “The Tina Method.” 😀
And hi! Thanks for the tip! 🙂
Don’t go back into hiding – we need good tips like this!! I would have never thought to do that – maybe now I’ll use the damn things more because honestly, cleaning the damn things is one of the main reasons why I don’t use them! No hiding, more blabbing. That’s what this web site needs. Ask Robyn!
She’s absolutely right, we can use awesome tips like this!
Okok, I’m back! I’m glad you found that tip useful…I feel validated in my
lazyenergy-saving ways now 😉All hail Tina! We need the energy saving tips. Otherwise my children get fed chunks of the last thing I’ve blended with the current creation (okay, I’m not that bad… but I’ve thought about it!)
Blender alfredo sauce without all the extra fat? Count me in! ((Also, your tip about serving in the plastic container is exactly the reason why I have so many trivets and just put the pots on the table. I have teenagers. Not as much chance of us having leftovers to justify using a container that size. Serving dishes are for company.))
Where the heck are the cats? Did you scare them off with the blender?
Aww, I came this close to buying Scanpan when I did all my research and bought (well, got my Mom and mother-in-law to buy for my Christmas present) my cookware years ago. I ended up with Calphalon instead, but always wondered how the Scanpan would have been!
Yummy recipe – I love alfredo sauce!!