Fettuccine Alfredo with Shrimp

Pasta with Shrimp and Cream Sauce

Fettuccine Alfredo is a pasta with a rich sauce made from butter, cream and parmesan cheese.

Alfredo sauce vs. Carbonara, what's the difference?

Both are creamy sauces, with a lot of parmesan cheese, but Carbonara is cream and eggs, Alfredo is butter and cream.

Alfredo dish is not exclusive to Fettuccine noodles, so you could use any kind of pasta other than Fettuccine.

When I want an authentic Italian recipe, I always refer to my favorite Italian chef, Lidia Bastianich, for the base recipe.

I have adopted her base ingredients for the sauce(minus the sage) and added shrimp, since we Filipinos are not used to eat any dish without a karneng sahog or a meat ingredient.

Now, like in Carbonara, I suggest to mix the pasta and sauce only when ready to eat because it gets too thick and gets stuck together, thus, unappetizing specially if re-heated.

So if you are serving this at a party, have the pasta separate from the sauce and let your guests mix their own plate.

Also, Ms. Bastianich always suggests in her show, Lidia's Italy, to reserve some pasta water (where the pasta was boiled) and pour some on the dish to loosen it a bit.


YOUR FETTUCCINE ALFREDO SHOPPING LIST:

  • Fettuccine noodles
  • Light Cream or Half and Half
  • Shrimps
  • Parmesan Cheese
  • Parsley(optional)

IN THE PANTRY:

  • Butter
  • Salt
  • Ground Pepper

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 pound Fettuccine noodles, cooked per package instruction
  • 2 pounds Shrimps, deveined with tails intact
  • 1/2 cup Butter
  • 3 cups Heavy Cream or Light Cream
  • 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese for sauce and 1/2 cup for topping, shredded
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 1-2 cups reserved pasta water
  • 1/2 cup parsley, chopped (optional)

PREPARATION TIME : 5 minutes

COOKING TIME : 15 minutes

1 Heat up the butter in a large saucepan and cook the shrimps for a minute per side. Remove the shrimp and set aside.

2 Turning the heat down a bit, add the cream to the pan and bring to a soft boil.

3 Add half of the shrimp and stir in the parmesan cheese.

4 Season with salt(if needed) and pepper.

5 When ready to eat, mix the pasta and sauce together, then top with parmesan cheese and parsley.


BENG'S TIPS

  • If the sauce becomes too thick, add some reserved pasta water to loosen it up.

  • I like a hint of garlic for this dish so I fry minced garlic in Step 1 before cooking the shrimp, and sprinkle Garlic powder towards the end of cooking.

  • You could do a chicken alfredo by substituting cubed, pre-cooked chicken meat. Left-over chicken breasts(minus the skin) from last night's Lechon Manok dinner will do.

Return to Pancit and Pasta Recipes

Return to Home Page

Return to Fettuccine Alfredo Top page