Some days it’s nice to be able to come home late, pull a few things out the refrigerator and end up with a delicious meal. With the added bonus of cleaning out food items that you needed to use up anyway. And, this dish has the added bonus of being a great, simple dinner party main course because most of the food preparation can be done in advance. All you need with this dish is bread and a salad.
Pasta is something that lends itself to those quick and tasty meals—also pasta is something that you can always count on to provide a good meal for a last minute guest. Just depends on what leftovers you have on hand.
I was running late for dinner and while mentally running over possible meal options in my mind, remembered a recipe for Spring Vegetable Fettuccine Alfredo. And I remembered that it was delicious.
I copied this recipe out of a library book on Pasta years ago along with about 10 other recipes. Wish I could remember the book, because every single recipe that I’ve made from that 10 has been outstanding.
I started setting up my ‘mies en place’ which is just all the ingredients that I needed for the dish. Here’s what I pulled out of the refrigerator: a leek, carrots, celery, asparagus, mushrooms, butter and a roasted and peeled red pepper.
Mise en Place
The asparagus ends were snapped off, then I cut them into short lengths. I cleaned the leek well under running water then cut off the dark green part & sliced the white part. The carrot was peeled and then sliced with a vegetable slicer. The mushrooms were trimmed and sliced. And the celery was sliced.
I boiled the fettuccine in plenty of boiling salted water and while that was cooking, started sautéing my veggies in lots of butter.
First the asparagus, which I sautéed, then covered and cooked until tender. I scooped them out into a bowl and proceeded to sauté the leeks, then the mushrooms, the celery, the carrots and finally threw the sliced roasted red pepper in along with the asparagus. I seasoned it with salt and pepper, added more butter and tossed it all with the drained cooked pasta. Then I added about a cup of heavy cream and tossed a little more. Grated Parmesan was the last to be added, off the heat and thoroughly tossed together. I tasted one last time and served it up.
Spring Vegetable Fettuccini Alfredo
Really rich, creamy and cheesy but with so many fresh vegetables that we didn’t even need a salad.
This would be spectacular with a white wine. Ask for a buttery, oaky Chardonnay to match but not overpower the full-bodied, creamy flavors of this dish.
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