My Italian Dinner

The other night I was feeling like something Italian. So I found a great Fettucini Alfredo Recipe. So easy, but not so light in the ingredient category. Hey, It's Fettucini Alfredo. If you want the real thing, you need to use the real ingredients. This time around I didn't add the peas and prosciutto but, if you wanted to add a more authentic flair, that's the way to do it. I saw many similar cream pasta dishes with peas and prociutto when we were in Italy.

This recipe is from Emeril. He's so great, I have yet to try one of his recipes that I don't love.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 shallots, minced
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 cup heavy cream
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 pound prosciutto, julienned
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for garnish
• 1 pound fresh fettuccini

Directions

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots and garlic and saute for a couple minutes or until tender. Add cream and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add prosciutto and peas and toss gently to combine. Sprinkle cheese over top and stir to melt and combine. Cook until heated through.

In a large pot of boiling salted water, add fettuccini and cook until al dente, just a couple minutes for fresh pasta. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup pasta water. Add the reserved pasta water and drained fettucini to skillet. Toss to combine pasta with sauce and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Serve, garnished with extra cheese

As a little side I made a tomato and basil bruschetta. It's so easy to make. I simply cut up some Roma tomatoes, fresh basil, and added some olive oil. A dash of salt and pepper to taste, and voila, you're done.

With the little toasts, I drizzled a little bit of olive oil on sliced baguette and toasted it in oven. Then I rubbed a halved piece of garlic over the little toasts to add some flavor of garlic.