Sadly I don’t have pictures to accompany this post, but next time I will, I promise! The reason I don’t have photos is because I didn’t mean for this to be awesome. I was experimenting and – lo and behold! – my homemade Alfredo sauce turned out really, really awesome.
Here’s the jist of what I did – if you have ANY tips whatsoever, I’d love to hear them!
Know the basics
I knew that traditional Alfredo sauce consisted of butter, cream, and Parmesan cheese. So, I grabbed those things first. Real butter, heavy cream, and good, shredded Parmesan cheese. I also knew that sauces get thicker when you start with a roux. And I knew how to make a roux (loosely, kind of) because Erin and her mother taught me how to make Shrimp Etoufee over the 2009 holidays, and Boyfriend, Roommate, and I replicated that at a dinner party earlier this summer.
The Roux
To be honest, I should’ve probably Googled “how to make a roux,” to find things out like ratios and timing, but I at least knew two things:
- A roux is a mix of butter and flour (more specifically, a roux is a mix of a fat and flour).
- You have to mix them together, stirring constantly, and for longer than you think you have to in order for it to work out.
I ended up with pretty close to a 1:1 ratio of butter and flour. I melted the butter first (it was about a half a stick) and then once that was melted, I added in a TBSP of flour at a time and whisked it until the flour dissolved, then stirred with a plastic spatula in between adding in three other tablespoons of flour – four total, which is 1:1 considering a half a stick of butter is 4 TBSP, right? Right.
You like-ah ‘da sauce?
Once I decided that the roux looked like a good roux should, I started adding in the heavy cream. I had one of those small cartons (8 oz, I believe?), and it wasn’t enough, so I had to add in milk until I got to a consistency that looked more like a thin sauce than boxed mashed potatoes. Right when the sauce was at a consistency I deemed officially “a tiny bit too thin to be Alfredo sauce,” I started dumping in the Parmesan cheese.
By “dumping,” I mean that I added the shredded cheese in about a handful at a time, let it melt, and then added more. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Once this started cooking, it started tasting like Real Alfredo Sauce. I needed to kick that up a little bit, so I sprinkled in garlic powder, salt and pepper during this process.
Play with your food
This is where I really started to play. By this point, I had a traditional Alfredo sauce. But I’m not traditional, so I started adding in Chardonnay (buttery notes anyone?), letting the alcohol cook out, and sampling it until that added just the right amount of Something Extra. But I wanted more. So, I squeezed a lemon wedge or two in there.
From that point it was a little dance between a little more salt, a little more cheese, easy on the milk… and when I’d finished, I had a really, really awesome Alfredo sauce with a twist.
Accoutrement
I didn’t want JUST noods and sauce, so while the water was boiling and the sauce was simmering, I sauteed up some shrimp and chopped up Brussels sprouts in butter, Chardonnay, and a few other herbs. I topped the pasta dish with this protein and greens mixture at the end, and I had a tasty, savory pasta dish that was done virtually from scratch.
Which, has been an over-arching goal of mine more and more.
The Community Kitchen
I totally winged this. Like, totally. So, if you have tips on really great Alfredo sauces (or white sauces in general), I’d love to hear them. What do you do differently? What’s your twist on this traditional sauce?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Mmmmmmm, I love a good alfredo! Getting the proper thickness without the clumps has always been a challenge for me.
I usually add lots of finely chopped parsley to mine, which also gives it that "something extra"
I'm also a slave to garlic so I use lots of fresh garlic (usually finely minced or run through the garlic press) to give it that strong garlicy flavor. YUM!
Your description of making the roux and sauce is pretty much how I make every sauce that I am unsure how to make. I totally wing it… and am really happy that I am not the only one who does.
Hooray for knowing how to make a roux! And for homemade alfredo sauce!