Fettuccine Alfredo (with bonus extras)

Another ToxicFrog post without pictures. Sorry about that. I'll try to remember next time.

Fettuccine Alfredo is a rich and delicious pasta dish, and very, very easy to make. It's a good choice when you don't mind eating something a bit heavy but do want something quick and easy to put together. It also takes very well to inclusions, such as pesto, chicken, or seafood.

This is the recipe from Hazan's Classic Pasta Cookbook; I think it's the first such recipe this blog has featured, but that book is in the "favourite cookbooks" list for a reason. The book recommends fettuccine for it, of course, but it's also good with other long pastas such as tagliatelle or linguine.

Ingredients
For pasta made with 3 eggs, or 1 pound dry, store-bought pasta

• 3 Tbs unsalted butter
• 1 cup heavy or table cream
• a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ½ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

As always, the fresh parmesan is mandatory; don't use the dried pre-grated stuff.

Procedure

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil.
2. Put the butter and cream into a large skillet over medium-high heat and boil lightly, stirring frequently, until the cream has reduced almost by half. (I find it hard to judge the volume reduction and instead go by thickness; it should be a bit thinner than you want the final sauce to be, since the cheese will thicken it up some).
3. Add the nutmeg, a pinch of salt, and a generous amount of pepper to the sauce. Remove from the heat.
4. Add a spoonful of salt and the pasta to the boiling water. Cook al dente.
5. Drain the pasta and add it to the skillet containing the sauce. Add the cheese and toss until the pasta is well-coated with the sauce and cheese. Serve.

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I mentioned earlier that this recipe takes well to extras. If you're including some sort of meat -- boneless chicken breast sliced into thin strips or chunks is a good choice, as are shrimp -- it's best to sautee it in the butter before adding the cream and other ingredients; this way its flavour infuses the butter and, later, the whole sauce. If you're including another sauce (any sort of pesto is a good idea; symbol and I will often toss in half a jar of store-bought basil or sundried tomato pesto) you can pretty much do that any time after the butter is melted and cream added.

If you're adding mixed vegetables, this is basically a pasta primavera, pasta in a vegetable cream sauce.