A Cooking Post: It Only Took Me Three Years to Figure This Out

Yeah, I made lasagna!

One of the best things about my husband is that he knows how to make a sauce. Actually, he knows how to make many sauces, and gravies (which I don’t eat on general principle) and glazes, and dressings, and stocks, and the like. It’s made him very popular with all the friends I’ve forced him to feed throughout the years.

The best sauce in his repertoire, in my mind, is the alfredo sauce. I’m a huge sucker for the alfredo sauce.

Learning how to make this was almost an insurmountable task for me. It’s difficult to learn how to make things from J. There’s the fact that he never measures anything (so all amounts below should be followed with a dash and the ending “ish”). There’s also the fact that if you start to screw up the sauce, he’s likely to push you away from the stove and then take over.

In the best-intentioned way, of course. I love you, honey!

Shhh: he’s a kitchen hog. Don’t tell him I said that.

The great thing about the alfredo sauce is that it can be multi-purposed for several dishes. By learning one thing, I’ve been able to learn how to make many different meals! Some of my all-time favorites are white pizza (see the firstpost in this series for discussions of pizza), alfredo (of course) with Italian sausage, mushrooms, and spinach (we don’t eat broccoli in this house), and mac and cheese with bacon and artichoke hearts.

Fortunately for you, he’s willing to let me share this sucker with you.

A note of caution: in this household we have a policy. I’m kind of crunchy when it comes to cooking. I am removing the vast majority of fast food from our lives (not that we ate much of it to begin with), and we use real food (as opposed to processed food) as much as possible. So, if you have issues with real butter and massive carbs, be forewarned. I, actually, have problems with eating sand, and wood, and chemicals. I’d much rather enjoy butter and sugar and the “bad for you” things. Because they are actual food, and not synthetic food. Related: they lack ammonia.

White sauce:

In a medium sauce pan, melt about 4 tablespoons butter and add about 2-3 cloves of garlic (pressed or minced). Once you can really smell the garlic and the butter is completely melted (but before it starts to sizzle) add 3 to 4 tablespoons of flour. Apparently, this is called making a roux, but other than the name, I know relatively little about it. You want the flour to soak up the butter, but no to the point of being stiff.

Once the roux is a light brown, you’ll add a medium sized carton of heavy cream (not the little baby ones like the milk cartons in elementary school, and not the big ½ gallon one, but the one in between). Turn down the heat, so you don’t scorch it as it heats up. Also, stir. And stir. Like, a lot. You want to avoid scorching and you want to incorporate the roux. You’ll know that it’s ready for cheese when it’s 1) hot, and 2) thickening up to the point where you can run the spoon through it and see a bit of the bottom of the pan before the sauce fills in the void again.

Don’t you love my descriptions?

Once the sauce has warmed and thickened, add your cheese- white Italian cheese for alfredo (it melts better than parmesan), gorgonzola for an awesome sauce over gnocchi, extra-sharp Cheddar for mac and cheese. You’ll want to add about a cup.

Once the cheese is melted into the sauce, turn off the heat and you’re done. You’ll need to serve it almost immediately, or it will start to separate. So, mix it into your cooked pasta, fold it into the makings for mac and cheese, or slather it on that pizza crust.

Nom, nom, nom, nom...

For mac and cheese, I add cooked and crumbled bacon, artichoke hearts, and mix thoroughly. Then I place it all in a greased 9x13 baking dish, add the other cup of Cheddar cheese, and top with Italian bread crumbs. Then I bake that puppy on 350 for about 20 to 30 minutes (until there is a nice crust, and I can’t take the smell without eating it any longer).

So, there you go! Never buy jarred alfredo sauce again! Also, if you try this recipe out, come back and comment to tell me how it went.