First of all (before we even get into the actual recipe for 12-35: Fettucini with Scallops) I need to take umbrage with the spelling of “fettucini”–Simply Delicious spells it with one “c” and an “i” at the end instead of an “e”. I spell it “fettuccine” (so does Wikipedia AND Olive Garden), so this is going to be a challenging entry to write.
What’s even MORE frustrating about it is that Simply Delicious can’t even pick one spelling themselves–check out 12-7: Fettuccini with Creamy Chicken and 12-20: Fettuccini with Ham. Two Cs! Still no E! It’s madness, I tell you.
Spinach fettuccine with Alfredo sauce (this one specifically) was one of my FAVORITE meals as a kid (I could definitely still knock out a big bowl of it today), and so I can see this as more of a “grown-up” version of it.
Real Alfredo sauce is closer to what you get with cacio e pepe than what you get at the Olive Garden (notably it doesn’t feature heavy cream and garlic like the OG version), and this version (even though it’s not calling itself “fettuccine Alfredo”) probably falls somewhere in between–lighter than OG’s but heavier than the original.
Note that this version does use heavy cream and garlic (like the OG version), but is much closer in preparation to the original version. The calories per serving are also about half of the OG version as well.
Ingredients. Sigh…ok–I’ve swapped dairy-free half-and-half for heavy whipping cream (that’ll probably not go well) and spaghetti for fettuccine since that’s what I had at the time. Everything else is mostly on point, except for the fresh basil which will be substituted by the dried stuff.
Chopped my (wrinkly) green onions.
Draining the crab (real, not “krab with a k“). I only put up with that other stuff in a California roll.
Drained the scallops as well–they’ll be patted dry next.
Boiling my fettuccine spaghetti.
Cooking the mushrooms, onions, and garlic.
Added the scallops into the pan.
Jumped ahead to the point where we’re now working the Parmesan cheese into the sauce to thicken it.
Final plate. Mine turned out even lighter than intended (mostly due to the use of the dairy-free half-and-half), but it actually wasn’t bad. It was a decent seafood pasta, and the lighter sauce definitely didn’t leave me with a feeling of “the itis“, like a big bowl of real fettuccine Alfredo might have.
Grade: A-
