Alfredo trials part I

Tonight I had some beautiful artichoke ravioli in the refrigerator that was looking at me longingly.  I decided that it needed a good Alfredo sauce and asparagus to go with it.  Strangely enough all of my cookbooks failed me.  I looked through 2 Italian cookbooks, one of my old culinary school textbooks and even brides guide, which is usually a fabulous go to.  I ended up going online and finding several different versions which I considered blasphemous for differing reasons.  I ultimately found one that I could work with at food network.  Giada has an interesting version which will require more work before I am fully happy with the results.  Considering that all of my go to's failed me...

For starters I had to cut the recipe to 1/4 of its original quantity
2/3 c heavy whipping cream
2 T lemon juice
3T butter
1/2 c parmesan
1/2 T lemon zest
pinch each, salt, pepper, nutmeg

Then I played

2/3 c heavy whipping cream

2 T lemon juice

3T butter

3/4 c pecorino romano

1/2 T lemon zest

2 oz proscuitto

pinch each, salt, pepper, nutmeg

I followed Giadia's directions

pour 1/2 of cream into pan, mix with lemon juice, add butter and stir over medium heat until butter is melted.

I make cheese using lemon juice and milk.  Everything in my knowledge said the cream should curdle. To my amazement, it did not.  I removed it from the heat and cooked the pasta.  I pulled the cooked raviolis from the pan and stirred them in adding the rest of the ingredients.  It got a bit weird for a couple of reasons.

Part of Gadias directions requires the heat from the pasta to help cook the sauce.  The second issue is that ravioli does not hold up to that abuse.

Needless to say I will revisit this.  The things I will try differently are as follows:

1)  half the lemon juice and do not use the zest

2)  finish cooking the sauce in the pan and pour on top of the pasta

3)  I may add more of whatever hard Italian cheese I desire.  I am currently undecided on this

4) get rid of the salt and add more pepper and nutmeg

Other than that I would call this a fairly successful trial.  It is just going to take a little more play.

I hope this inspires you to try something new and just have fun playing.  The worst that can happen is you have to order Pizza.

Anthoinette