Pasta with mushroom alfredo

I absolutely love cream based pastas. They are easy to make and, when made with top quality ingredients, they are unbelievable. There was a time when I would make them whenever the urge would occur to me. These days with my doctor, and everyone else, preaching that I should eat healthy, I feel guilty and try to show restraint. Yes, I try to run, but that only covers so many sins. 

I can’t be good all the time, can I? Every once in a while I have to splurge. When I do, I compensate by making a side dish of sautéed spinach. That’s healthy, right?

You can use almost any kind of mushroom in this Alfredo. I personally like shiitake mushrooms, but portabellas work good too. Heck, even the plain white ones at the grocery are good. You know, as long as your splurging on this dish, why don’t you throw some almost-crisp, chopped bacon in along with the mushrooms. I won’t tell if you don’t.  

1 stick of butter

3 large shallots - sliced razor thin and chopped

cajun seasoning

white pepper

1 tsp. flour

1/2 lb. sliced shiitake mushrooms 

1-1/4 cups half & half

1 cup fresh grated parmesan

1 lb. fettuccine cooked al dente

Nutmeg for grating

Preparation

Heat a large skillet and melt the butter. Add the shallots and gently cook them without browning. Give them a good sprinkling of cajun seasoning and white pepper and then sprinkle in the flour. Stir for one minute.

Add the sliced mushrooms (and bacon, you might as well) and cook gently for about 10 minutes. Add the half and half and heat, while stirring, until it begins to simmer. Add the parmesan and stir to melt. Toss the pasta with the sauce. If you want, you could grate a little nutmeg over the pasta just before serving - it canʼt hurt. The key here is don’t toss the pasta until you are ready to serve it. It will absorb and get pasty if you don’t serve it right away.

Serving

You can serve this as a side dish to broiled lamb steaks and sautéed spinach. If you add fresh bread and a nice soup, you can round things out nicely with a good Sangiovese wine from Italy. If, instead of dinner, this is standing alone as a light lunch, serve it with a chilled Prosecco from Italy and some chilled fresh fruit for dessert.