Creamy Garlic Pasta
Originally found at The Cheese Pusher
2 tsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups vegetable stock
½ lb spaghetti or angel hair pasta
¾ cup half and half
Salt and pepper, to taste
Parmesean cheese
In a pot, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add stock and raise the heat, bringing the liquid to a boil. Add pasta, stirring frequently until tender. Add half and half and stir to combine. Cook for a few minutes to thicken, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Top with parmesean cheese. Serve immediately.
My Notes:
I actually edited the original recipe more than I thought I was going to. The original recipe called for chicken stock, which of course was a no-no, but that was easily fixed. Then I cut the fat by using half and half. I don't add additional salt to my recipes in general, so I left the salt out. I also used fettuccine, because that's what I had on hand over angel hair. I don't recommend that, because it's much harder to keep the noodles from clumping. Stick to angel hair (or spaghetti, if you must).
The original recipe also asked that you add the cheese before the half and half, stirring until it melted completely. Not sure what sort of cheese she was using when she did the recipe, but I ended up with big globs of melted cheese in my noodles. So, I recommend you top the pasta with the cheese at the end. Most alfredo sauces are made with a roux before you add the pasta, which makes it much easier to get the cheese melted and incorporated into the sauce. Adding it to a thickened liquid with the noodles doesn't work quite as well.
So yeah, it turned out pretty yummy. I think next time, I'll cut down on the stock a little bit (maybe 2 1/2 cups), just so that it doesn't take quite as long to cook the liquid off, and maybe toss in some broccoli for color. And maybe add more garlic. I don't think I had the full 4 cloves asked for in the recipe.
