Notes about Recipes in this book

• Fettuccini Alfredo

  • ashallen on November 08, 2019

    A rich and delicious pasta dish. I frequently substitute some milk or half and half for some of the heavy cream to make it a bit lighter. You can vary how thick the sauce comes out by cooking the pasta+sauce for a longer or shorter time over low heat. Some variations we really like are to saute some good ham or prosciutto, diced, in the butter specified in the recipe (cut back on the butter a bit if using fatty prosciutto) first. We remove the crisped ham, proceed with the sauce according to the recipe, and then fold the crisped ham back in at the end. We also like it with cooked fresh or frozen green peas folded in (with or without the ham). Cook's Illustrated subsequently published a revised version of this recipe in The New Best Recipe - we found we like the proportions of ingredients in that recipe a bit better than this one and it replaced this recipe as our go-to (though this one's still very good!). [Cross-post for Magazine/Annual Edition.]

• Chicken Francese

  • ashallen on October 14, 2019

    Overall, I thought this dish was just OK. The sauce was too tart and lemony for my taste - I very much ended up picking out side dishes that would help with balancing out the flavors and spreading the sauce around. Between that and the typical spatter associated with pan-frying meat, I haven't felt inspired to make this dish again. Texture of the chicken was good, however, and those who like strong lemon sauces would probably enjoy this recipe. [Cross-post for Annual Edition/Magazine/Cook's Ill. Cookbook.]