PASTA CLASSICA

A couple of summers ago I worked as a waitress at a pizza place.  It was something I had always wanted to do and knowing it was probably my last "summer job" that didn't pertain to medicine, I was determined to waitress no matter what.  Believe it or not, with no experience it can be quite difficult to find a serving position.

The restaurant made a pasta dish I always thought looked quite tasty and I thought I would put my cooking abilities to the test.  If you want to try it (take my word for it - it's delicious and easy) here is what you will need:

1 or 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Salt and pepper

1 tbsp olive oil

Fettuccine

1 or 2 tbsp butter or margarine

 1 or 2 tbsp flour

2 cloves of garlic

~ 1 cup parmesan Cheese (the real stuff)

Milk

Basil

Parsley

1/2 bottle of spaghetti sauce

I always start the chicken first.  Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat.  Cut the breasts into bite sized pieces.  Season with salt and pepper.  Fry in the pan until cooked all the way through.  Set aside.

Cook the fettuccine in a pot of boiling water, drain, and rinse with water.  Put back in the pot and set aside (it should be removed from heat at this point).

Next you prepare the alfredo sauce (from scratch).  Sounds exciting, doesn't it??  I have faith in you.  Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Crush the garlic and add to the pan.  Mix in the flour until smooth.  This next part requires your own judgement.  This is where you're going to add the milk but it's important to remember in cooking you can always add more but you can never take anything away. In other words, don't add too much milk because you can never go back.  Start with 3/4 cup or 1 cup of milk stirred into the the butter/flour/garlic mixture.  Wait until the milk has warmed up before adding the parmesan cheese.  Tip: it's important you don't use Kraft parmesan cheese because it is incredibly salty when you use it in large quantities.  I buy parmesan in the specialty cheese section of the grocery store already shredded in a little tub.  

Now back to the good part (Jack Sparrow reference - ha).  You don't want the sauce to be too thin or liquidy, which is why the milk to cheese proportion has to be just right (as Goldilocks would say).  Play around with it.  When you're happy with the consistency, add basil.  I only use dry herbs because fresh ones would go to waste around here, and I use probably 1/2 tsp. 

The sauce is almost done - you're doing great!  Add 1/2 bottle of your favourite spaghetti sauce (or more if desired) and the sauce is complete!

I like to add the chicken to the pot of fettuccine and then pour the sauce over the pasta and chicken.  Depending on the temperature of the pasta, you can turn the burner on low and reheat the dish if necessary.  Put in bowls, sprinkle a pinch of parmesan and parsley on top.  Enjoy!