Fresh Fettuccine Alfredo

Eating Fresh Fettuccine Alfredo is the food equivalent to sleeping-in on the weekend, or snuggling up on the sofa with a good book for hours, or spending all day in your track pants with no make-up on, or watching HBO until your eyes fall out of your head. Doing all of the above in one day... well, that's my version of heaven.


Fresh Fettuccine Alfredo
from Lidia Matticchio Bastianich's Lidia's Italian-American Kitchen

Serves 4

For the Fettuccine:
3 cups unbleached plain four
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Warm water as needed

For the Sauce:
60g unsalted butter
2/3 cup cream
1/2 cup chicken stock
Sea salt and Fresh cracked pepper, to taste
2 large egg yolks
1/4 cup fresh Parmesan, grated

Make the Fettuccine:

Dump the flour onto a clean counter top so that it is piled up. Make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into it. Add the olive oil and salt.

Using a fork, use a swirling action in the wet ingredients and gradually incorporate flour closest to the center of the well and continue moving outward. When the dough starts to come together, ditch the fork and dive in with your hands. If the dough is dry, try adding a little bit of warm water to moisten it.

Bring the dough together and knead it for a few minutes, until it is smooth and elastic. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and leave it at room temperature to rest for an hour.

Unwrap the ball of dough, flatten slightly and cut the dough into six equal triangles, like you are cutting pizza slices.

Take one triangle, flatten slightly with the heel of your hand and feed one corner through the rollers of a pasta machine.

Repeat this process, each time adjusting the rollers so that they get closer together, until you have a thin, smooth sheet of dough.

Place the finished sheet on top of the flour dusted workspace. Trim the pointed edges off of each end. If your sheet is very long, cut it in half as it will be easier to work with later. Flip pasta sheet over a few times until lightly covered in flour on each side. This is to help dry the pasta out and to prevent sheets from sticking together.

Repeat the process with the remaining five pieces of dough, until all of the dough is now drying in sheets.

Attach the fettuccine cutter to your machine and feed the dough through, sheet by sheet until you have cut all the dough.

Let the cut pasta fall to the counter, scoop them up, toss them in some more flour until lightly coated and place each pile on top of the towel-covered baking sheet until you are ready to cook them.

Shake off any excess flour and cook the pasta in boiling salted water for about 2 minutes and start making the sauce.

Make the Sauce:
While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a pan large enough to hold the pasta and the sauce. Before the butter is totally melted add the cream and stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and let the sauce reduce a little. It will become thicker. Season with salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta (reserve some of the water for thinning the sauce later if required), and pour it into the sauce and return to a boil. Toss the pasta in the sauce to coat. Remove it from the heat and drop the egg yolks in one at a time, shaking or stirring the pan to create a creamy sauce (use some of the pasta cooking water if the sauce is too thick).

Now add the cheese and toss well. Serve to warm bowls immediately.