Valentine's Day may be in just a few days but I'm willing to bet a lot of peeps are feeling a little uninspired this year. Between quarantine, new nasty covid strains, waiting (and waiting and waiting) for a vaccine, the general state of the world, and a serious lack of restaurant options (totally understandable but still sucks), a lot of you might just be thinking "meh let's skip it". But hold up! I have a solution: done in less than 30 minutes, and lower on the calories, this date night mushroom fettuccine alfredo is the perfect dish for this weekend!
Especially this year, I think it's still important to do something, to celebrate every little thing that brings you even the tiniest bit of joy. For me, that happens to be food. So I'm going to take advantage of pretty much every holiday this year, including the Hallmark created ones 🤣.
So how to celebrate Valentine's Day? With a festive beverage and a plate of date night mushroom fettuccine alfredo of course!
Did you catch that lower on the calories statement? Just like my creamy skinny fettuccine recipe, this pasta recipe is guilt free! Instead of a cream based sauce or super heavy on the butter, this version uses vegetable broth and skim milk with a little bit of butter, parmesan cheese, and flour to help thicken it up. And you can't even tell the difference!
Better than take out pasta? Done and done, grab the recipe below 🍝.
Date Night Mushroom Fettuccine Alfredo
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: Serves 3-4 1x
Description
Better than take out, this pasta recipe is done in less than 30 minutes, and is lower in calories!
Ingredients
- 1 lb fettuccine pasta
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons unbleached, all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons white wine or white wine vinegar
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 cup skim milk (I used fat free)
- 1 cup parmesan cheese, freshly shredded
- ½ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, roughly minced
- ½ teaspoon fresh oregano, roughly minced
- Salt and pepper to taste
Get Recipe Ingredients
Instructions
- Cook fettuccine according to box instructions. Save ¼ cup of the pasta water. Drain fettucine.
- While fettuccine is cooking, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.
- In a large skillet, melt the olive oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter and over medium heat. Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes until mushrooms are somewhat softened and they start to release their juices, stirring frequently.
- Add garlic and cook 1 more minute, until fragrant.
- Pour in wine and scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the skillet.
- Add remaining butter to the skillet. Once melted, stir in flour. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Slowly pour vegetable broth into the skillet, stirring until smooth.
- Slowly pour milk into the skillet, stirring until smooth.
- Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to medium low, and let cook about 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally, until somewhat thickened.
- Reduce heat to low. Stir in parmesan cheese until completely smooth. Cook one more minute. Add herbs and salt and pepper to taste.
- Remove from heat. Stir cooked fettuccine pasta into the skillet and coat in the sauce. Add pasta water one tablespoon at a time until desired sauce consistency is reached (I used about 2 tablespoons). Top with any remaining herbs and serve immediately.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
Janel Barthe says
want to make this delicious sounding recipe, but only have orzo, rotini, angelhair and regular spaghetti pasta...would any of these work out?