Some days you just have to have pasta. Not just any pasta. Fettuccine. Creamy fettuccine. And so you don’t feel totally guilty…creamy fettuccine with vegetables.
Creamy Fettuccine with Vegetables from Comfort Food was the perfect recipe to satisfy my craving. While the recipe does call for heavy cream, it is still quite light with only ¾ cups for the whole recipe.
You can change up the recipe slightly like I did and use veggie broth instead of chicken broth. I also added twice the amount of vegetables, which I highly recommend. You can also go with what is in season if you want the freshest recipe possible. You can’t go wrong with veggies and pasta. It’s quick. It’s easy. It’s delicious.
Creamy Fettuccine With Vegetables
(from page 176 of the Comfort Food cookbook)
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
¾ cup chicken stock
1 pound asparagus (top two-thirds of the spears only), cut into 1-inch pieces
1 small zucchini or yellow summer squash, diced
½ cup diced green, yellow, or red bell pepper
½ cup finely diced carrot
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup heavy cream
½ pound fettuccine
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, divided
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• Heat a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta. When it boils, turn off the heat.
• Melt the butter in a large, nonreactive skillet or Dutch oven over low heat, add the garlic, and cook for 1 minute. Add the chicken stock, asparagus, zucchini, bell pepper, carrot, and salt and bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the vegetables are still a little crunchy. Add the cream, stir, cover, and remove from the heat.
• Return the pot of water to a boil. Prepare the fettuccine according to the package directions, drain, and set aside.
• Return the skillet to the heat, bring the vegetables to a simmer, add the fettuccine, and heat gently for 3 to 4 minutes, occasionally tossing to avoid clumping. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with ½ cup of Parmesan cheese. Add the parsley and black pepper, to taste. Toss and serve, passing the remaining Parmesan cheese at the table.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.