Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Pasta Alfredo with Seafood


First things first. Because several people asked, I have a Sunbeam bread machine, which I bought last summer, when my Breadman bit the dust. I ordered it from Amazon (Jeff Bezos, if you're reading, send me stuff - I'll review it for you!) and Thor's friend in brown brought it in. I had purchased one for my oldest daughter, now in law school, 2 years ago, when she moved into a house with her best friend's brother and boyfriend for roommates. She uses hers a couple of times a week, and her best friend uses it a couple of times a week, and it's evidently holding up well for her. I mostly use mine as a fancy mixer for the bread dough, although at least once a week I make English Muffin Bread using the delayed timer cycle. Believe me, the house smells wonderful when I do that - I almost want to get up in the morning. Almost.

Ahem. Back to real food.

Saturday night I was not in the mood to cook. No surprise there. But I had seen a recipe in the paper a while back for linguine in alfredo sauce with shrimp and other assorted stuff that I didn't have or don't eat. Well, I'm never one to let that stand in the way of a good idea,
am I? So, creating from my freezer, cupboards, refrigerator and imagination, I turned out this:

ANGEL HAIR ALFREDO WITH SEAFOOD

2 pounds angel hair
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) butter
1 pound imitation crabmeat
1/2 pound asparagus, cut in 1" long pieces
2 cups heavy cream

3 cups milk
1 cup parmesan
Ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a large pan. Saute the imitation crabmeat gently in it until it's heated throughout. Stir in the cream, pepper and 2 cups of the milk and heat it. Cook the angel hair, adding the asparagus to the angel hair water 2 minutes before the pasta is done. By the time it's finished, the sauce should be hot. Drain the pasta, add the parmesan and last cup of milk to the sauce, then stir the pasta/asparagus mix into the sauce. Serve immediately.

Note that I found the sauce too thick; I'd probably go with a little less parmesan next time. It was quite tasty, although my smallest fussbudget demanded that I make him plain pasta next time I cook this. Also note that despite the fact that this is only 2 pounds of pasta, I'd be surprised if it didn't feed at least 6 to 8 people (it's hard to estimate, because my guys are all huge eaters, and all skinny, and I'd hate them for that if I weren't so fond of them).

13 comments:

SissySees said...

I'm going to have to get some heavy cream and chopped broccoli (hem - my own variation) and have dinner tonight. That should cheer my two, four-legged patients right up. Seafood AND cream?! Does it get any better?

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

This has serious drool factor! I would cut back on the parm to thin it out, try using half of the cream and use regular milk or lowfat milk for the other half. You may have to play with it a little bit to get the conisistency you like.

The Blonde Duck said...

That sounds good to me. Think tuna would work instead of crab meat?

I swim at www.aduckinherpond.com.

Paula said...

My oldest daughter has decided that she loves alfredo, and I can occasionally slip some chicken in it before I pour it on pasta. Anything else gets left on the plate. Yours looks lovely; what time should I arrive for dinner next time?

CraftRage said...

Is it wrong that every time Google Reader announces a new post at Modern Day Ozzie & Harriet, I start to salivate uncontrollably?

Christo Gonzales said...

pasta, cream, green things, seafood....this is what I eat when I want to remind myself how much I like to eat...put in some pasta water - that might thin it out...

Anonymous said...

Yum. I have this weird obsession with imitation crab. I know Id love it!

Bunny said...

My husband would love this, he buys imitation crabmeat every time we go for groceries!

Unknown said...

looks perfect... :)

test it comm said...

I like simple and tasty throw together pastas like this. It is always fun to see what you can some up with.

Jan said...

This sounds like a great combination. I think you're right about the parmesan, 1 cup does sound a bit excessive.

Peter M said...

Yes, I want this for lunch...I'm hungry...I'll set the table even!