Christmas Fettuccini
Christmas. It’s one of my favorite times of the year. There seems to be a little more kindness in the air and a little more love and hope in our hearts. It’s a time of traditions and family. Christmas Fettuccini is one of my family’s favorite traditions.
Back when I was still single and living alone, the things I missed most during the holidays
However, I missed the other small traditions I remembered from my childhood. Guessing the pennies in the jar at my granny’s Christmas Eve dinner, waking up to the surprises under the tree and gorging myself on my mom’s caviar pie before Christmas dinner was on the table.
Then about 12 years ago, while feasting on holiday movies, I watched The Holiday starring Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz. It’s a warm, fuzzy holiday movie if you’re in the market for that sort of thing.
In the movie, Kate Winslet’s character mentions making some Christmas Fettuccini, which in the movie is just Fettuccini Alfredo served at Christmas, I think. Far too plain to come out of my kitchen. All the same, a new tradition was born. Now every Christmas Eve, my family sits down to generous servings of my Christmas Fettuccini.
The alfredo sauce in this recipe is homemade, and you’ll never go back to store-bought after making it once.
Your protein options for this recipe are endless. I like to use jumbo shrimp because Christmas is a special occasion, and we don’t splurge on seafood often. But, I’ve also made this with steak or chicken. Feel free to customize to your family’s tastes.
It’s also an excellent dish for vegetarians. I usually toss in some sautéed sliced mushrooms and sundried tomatoes, but you could also add some broccoli or zucchini for a hearty vegetarian dinner.
The recipe below for the Alfredo sauce will make more than you need for this dish. Add the sauce slowly so as not to over sauce. You want just enough sauce to coat the noodles and other ingredients, but you don’t want them swimming in it. The star of the dish is the pasta and toppings, not the sauce.
Leftover sauce can be store in the fridge for up to a week or frozen.
One final note about cooking pasta. Do NOT rinse pasta after you cook and drain it. All you’re doing is rinsing off the starch. And that starch is what helps the sauce stick to the pasta, so we definitely don’t want to lose that!
I hope your family enjoys this Christmas Eve meal as much as mine does. What are some of your family’s traditional Christmas dishes?
Christmas Fettuccini
Ingredients
1 lb. fettuccini
1 lb. jumbo shrimp
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
6 oz. sliced sundried tomatoes (drain if packed in oil)
sliced green onions, including tips
salt
pepper
For the Alfredo sauce
2 cups heavy cream
½ cup butter
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Directions
- Cook fettuccini according to package directions.
- While the pasta cooks, prepare the Alfredo sauce. Put cream, butter, cheese, pepper and garlic powder in a sauce pan. Whisk to combine over medium heat. When sauce near sides of pan starts to bubble, turn heat to low.
- Peel and devein shrimp and remove tails.
- Saute shrimp in butter until pink and cook through. Remove from pan.
- Add mushrooms to pan and salt and pepper. Cover and sweat the mushrooms.
- When mushrooms are nearly cooked, add the sundried tomatoes. Heat over medium low for 1-2 minutes.
- Add shrimp back to pan and stir to combine.
- Add Alfredo sauce one ladel at time to shrimp mixture. (You will have some Alfredo sauce left over which you can freeze!)
- Once shrimp mixture is coated, add pasta and toss. Add more Alfredo sauce if necessary.
- Top with sliced green onions and serve while warm with hot garlic bread.
How did you customize your Christmas Fettuccini? Let us know in the comments.