Accidental Alfredo

Before I get started: it has been, shall we say, brought to my attention that in my last post I neglected to give due credit to one of the most significant influences on my cooking:  my wife.  Melanie has a BS in Dietetics and a Master's Degree in Nutrition.  She occasionally teaches classes for the local university and is a constant source of great recipes and food science tidbits.  She's also a far better baker than I, and her recent experiments with fondant are something to behold.  Suffice it to say that my work in the kitchen would not be what it is today with out her.  Love you, Honey!

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I once read an article in Saveur about the origins of Alfredo sauce.  *Goes digging*  Ah, here's the pertinent excerpt:

Cream, it turns out, was not a component of the original dish. The recipe was invented at another Alfredo's, a humble Roman restaurant opened by a man named Alfredo di Lelio just after the turn of the 20th century, on the via della Scrofa near the Tiber River. As the story goes, after di Lelio's wife gave birth to their son, she lost her appetite. Di Lelio, determined to get her to eat, transformed his fettuccine al burro—a homely preparation of pasta tossed with butter and parmesan—by increasing significantly the amount of butter he used. The result was a more lavish dish, which neither his wife nor his customers could resist. (The Real Alfredo) 

Now, up until I read that article, all of my efforts at Alfredo had been something of a variation on a basic white sauce with butter, flour, parmesan and some kind of dairy - the Betty Crocker version.  They were pretty much always disappointing.  But the once or twice that I've tried to duplicate the recipe from Saveur, it hasn't gone well.  Gloppy, stringy, greasy, yuck.  I'm thinking now that it was because there wasn't enough heat involved to properly integrate the cheese with the butter, but more on that in a bit.

One of my favorite quick meals is to take a chicken breast, season it, and broil it.  From there, you can do pretty much whatever you want with it.  Salad, wraps, sandwiches, pasta, you name it.  I bet you could even chop it and throw it on top of a vegetable stew or something (sounds worth a try, right?).

So, I didn't really have any lunch plans after church today, but I had thawed a chicken breast so it was ready to go when I got home.  Fine.  Got it marinating, and then had to figure out what to do with it.  I'm thinking pasta.  I get some water going and throw in half a box of linguine.

I get to thinking that seasoned, grilled chicken over just plain pasta is kind of, well, minimalist, no matter how good the chicken is.  So I grab a wedge of parmesan and shred some (using the fine shredder on a box grater), thinking I'll just sprinkle it over the chicken.  But about the time the pasta's done, I get a better idea.  I'll pour any juices from the chicken over the pasta, along with some of the parmesan and a little extra virgin olive oil to give the pasta some flavor of its own.

What's funny is that at this point, I still have absolutely no thought of alfredo in my head.

So at the last second, I decide to take the pasta off a touch early and then throw it back on the heat for a bit to let it soak up my impromptu sauce (something called "marrying" the pasta to the sauce that I picked up from Lynn Rosetto Kasper's fantastic book, The Italian Country Table - even if you never use a single recipe, it's worth it for the insight into Italian culture and cuisine alone).  To do this, you usually have to leave a little of the pasta water in so the pasta doesn't scorch, and also because the starch in the pasta water helps make for a thicker, silkier sauce.

About the time I put it back on the heat and start tossing the parmesan with the pasta, it hits me:  This, what I'm doing here, this is alfredo sauce!  I mean, yeah, I'm using olive oil instead of butter (and not a ton of it at that), and I think there's probably too much pasta water, but basically, I'm making alfredo.  I kept it on the heat, tossed it gently until it was smooth, and then just kept it on a little longer until it was as thick as I wanted.

Once I tasted it, I thought, "This has to be the best alfredo sauce I've ever done, and I did it by accident."

The only thing I regret is that I didn't have a nice white wine chilling to go with it.  I think I would have liked either the Sauvignon Blanc from Nobilo, or Gnarly Head's Pinot Grigio, either of which I think would be really perfect with this.  Both fairly light, with a little bit of citrus, but enough acidity to balance the richness of the sauce.

I think there's a little room for improvement, really.  I could probably have got away with a little more olive oil, and certainly more cheese, in the sauce.  I'd also like to try it using the traditional butter instead of the olive oil, and maybe see how the garlic works with the rest of the flavors.

p.s. - I promise I'll get that sourdough post up soon!

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Accidental Alfredo (with grilled chicken)
Serves 2-3 (doubles easily)
Prep: 30 min
Cook: 25 min


Chicken:

1 tsp      dry oregano
1/2 tsp   rubbed sage
1 tsp      dry thyme
             (Note: these are all herbs I've dried from my own gardens.  I prefer using fresh, but dry tends to work better for marinades)
2-3 tsp  black pepper (I'm guesstimating, here,  ~2 dozen turns on the pepper grinder.)
1 Tbsp  onion powder
3 Tbsp  extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp  red wine vinegar
1           boneless, skinless chicken breast (~1 lb)
sea salt
cooking spray
(I generally use garlic, and I could do a whole other post on the various ways to season broiled chicken breast, but this turned out quite nice sans garlic.  The truth?  I was out of garlic powder...)

1.  In ziploc bag, add all ingredients through vinegar.  Mix well, then add chicken and coat well.  Marinate ~30 minutes.
2.  Spray broiler pan rack with cooking spray (I like to line mine underneath with aluminum foil, since it catches the juices and saves me some trouble washing the bottom of the broiler pan).  Place chicken on rack, and sprinkle with coarsely ground sea salt (any other coarse salt, like kosher, should work as well).  Broil 8-10 minutes per side, until done through.  Sprinkle other side with salt upon turning.
3.  Remove from heat and slice ~1/4 in thick.  Turn off heat.  In 5-10 min, place oven-safe bowls in oven to warm.

Alfredo:
1/2 lb     dry pasta (linguine or fettuccine)
1 c         finely shredded Parmesan
3 Tbsp  extra virgin olive oil (4 Tbsp unsalted butter would probably do just as well)
black pepper to taste

1.  While chicken is cooking, add dry pasta to ~3 qt boiling salted water.  Cook 9 minutes and test for doneness.  Shred cheese.
2.  While the pasta is still firm and there is a tiny white core in the center of the noodle, strain out all but 1/2 to 3/4 c of the pasta water.  Reduce heat to medium and add any juices from broiler pan, 1/2 cup of the cheese, olive oil (or butter), and black pepper.  Stir and toss gently over heat until sauce is smooth and begins to thicken, ~1 min.
3.  Distribute chicken over pasta and sauce in warmed bowls.  Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan and serve.