Sunday, May 4, 2008

My Second Dollar Dish: Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo


My dad always makes the Fettucini Alfredo in our family. Once, I walked into the kitchen to discover my mother making Fettucini Alfredo for dinner. It puzzled me. How did she know what to do? It was Dad's recipe. I asked her about it and she looked at me like I was crazy. But in my young mind, only Dad could make Fettucini Alfredo.

In my family, we can all cook. Even my sister, who has now made her fame through Ramen, bakes amazing orgasmic Pots du Chocolate. Due to work, my father rarely has time to cook but he has invented some delicious dishes such as his famous ham-cucumber stuffed pork chops. Today, as I was craving his creamy alfredo sauce, I began to think about how my father has influenced my culinary development. He has always encouraged me to do what I love, be creative and push myself to do well. These values have spilled into my kitchen and impacted my own cooking. In my dad's honor, I decided to tweak his original alfredo recipe by making a Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo.

I, also, really wanted to post another Dollar Dish since tomorrow is the deadline. I had bought ingredients to make stuffed red peppers for under $5 but I could not get excited for the dish. Instead, I found myself craving this alfredo sauce. So, I hope you will forgive me but this sauce was not exactly under $5 but it is possible. When I first created my Dollar Dish Duel, I went to the dollar store to check out what kind of food one could find for a dollar. I stumbled across a huge jar of roasted red peppers but I did not have any cash on me and paying a dollar with a credit card seemed silly. So when I had this idea for the alfredo today, my options were to either waste gas to go back to the dollar store or use the red pepper that I bought last week. I opted for roasting my own pepper. If you factor in the dollar jar of roasted red peppers with the whipping cream ($1.25), 1 cup of Parmesan (about $1), and pasta ($1), the dish comes to about $4.25. The dinner was great and there are leftovers for me to take for lunch tomorrow! There is still time to enter the duel...email me your submissions by tomorrow (May 5th). For details, click on the logo...



Roasted Red Pepper Alfredo

1 roasted Red Pepper, chopped
1 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 cup whipping cream
1 box of pasta

Staples:
1 tablespoon butter
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1. Prepare pasta according to directions.
2. Heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat until melted.
3. Saute garlic and red pepper in butter.
4. Add pasta to the saucepan.
5. Stir in whip cream and paremsan.
6. Cook until thickened and season with nutmeg.

P.S. How to roast a pepper? Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Please the pepper on a baking sheet and roast until the top begins to blacken. Rotate the pepper until all the sides are blackened. Remove from oven and place in a brown paper bag to cool. This helps the skin come off easily.

10 comments:

Katerina said...

Looks like some yummy comfort food to me. The fact that it is cheap is a nice bonus.

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

it's always fun to create a dish that brings back nostalgia - looks great!

cakewardrobe said...

Sounds like the father-daughter relationship I have! Though initially, my dad thought "why do you need to go to school to learn how to draw," he totally supported me through and told me to always follow my dreams. This looks soooo yummy!

LyB said...

Beautiful Ginny! I love Fettuccine Alfredo, I'll certainly try it with roasted red peppers, it must add so much flavor!

Elle said...

I can't imagine this tasting anything less than amazing and comforting!

You've been tagged--see my blog, please. Feel free to play or pass, it's up to you. ;)

Helene said...

Looks like the perfect dinner for me tomorrow! great choice!

Emily said...

Cheap eating is the best! Beans are crazy cheap.

The alfredo looks delicious. Who could resist it? I used to ask my dad if he could fix my rice for me, which meant smashing in some butter into my rice. Mmm.

Anonymous said...

Mmm looks good. Sometimes I just crave some inexpensive comfort food. One of my favorites is Mac & Cheese (not the fancy white stuff, just the cheap bright orange kind), with hot dogs sliced in and a can of cheap chili mixed in. It reminds me of hanging out at my friends place in college.

Ginny said...

katerina- thank you for stopping by! It is very comforting!

veggiegirl- Thanks! Isn't it just?

cakewardrobe- exactly! I'm glad your dad also supports you because i think you are doing awesome! :)

lyb- thank you! I would also add some more red pepper if you have it. Of course, I don't think I could ever have too much red pepper!

elle- thanks! and thank you for the tag, I'll check it out and see what I can do! :)

tartelette- I highly recommend it! thanks!

emiline- butter and rice? sounds great!

marc- haha! me too! I love having some mac and cheese every once in a while!

test it comm said...

Roasted red pepper Alfredo sounds so good! Nice and sweet and creamy.