I’ve been meaning to make this one for a while–spinach fettuccine was my favorite as a kid (and is SUPER hard to find these days). I usually had it with Alfredo sauce, and the cheesy sauce in 12-10: Cheesy Tagliatelle is like a thinner, red pepper-ier version of that. 🍽
I’m not quite sure what the major difference between tagliatelle and fettuccini is–the TL;DR of a quick search indicates it has to do with fettuccini noodles being the same width as tagliatelle, but a bit thicker. The two come from different parts of Italy, but both roughly refer to the same concept.
I mentioned in the beginning that this sauce was similar to a thinned-down Alfredo sauce–Simply Delicious achieves this through the use of regular milk and just a touch of half-and-half as the cream base rather than using full-on heavy cream. Remember–this was the health-conscious 1980s, and low-fat/low-calorie was all the rage.
Ingredients. I’m using a Mexican blend of cheese for my sauce, and a whole red pepper since it’s small.
Getting some color on the pepper rings and garlic. I added a bit more butter in after getting that nice color to start the roux.
Browned pepper rings simmering in the sauce with the milk/half-and-half whisked in. No herbs yet–the specks are dark pieces of garlic and other assorted brown bits from the earlier sauté in the pan.
The sauce picks up more of an orange hue the longer the peppers are in the sauce. I mixed in the peas, basil, & cheese at this point–it’s getting harder to move the whisk through the pan.
Added my last spices in and held the sauce until the pasta was done cooking. I thinned it out with a bit more milk a few times while holding it on the stove–probably about 1/2 cup total.
I disregarded their serving suggestion and just threw all the noodles into the pan with the sauce, tossing them together.
Looks like a light, more vegetable-y version of fettuccini Alfredo to me.
I neglected to toast the seeds, but it tasted ok anyway. I picked out the vegetables (as I do), but the sauce and noodles were pretty good. If I made it again, I’d purée the red peppers after cooking them and work that into the sauce–the large pepper bits aren’t as appetizing to me as a more pepper-infused sauce.
Grade: B+
