During my adventure with almost-vegetarian cooking, I’ve enjoyed learning how to increase the protein in classic meals. Let’s face it, not everyone loves beans – including my long suffering husband – so I’ve enjoyed the challenge of keeping up our protein intake while making the food not taste so bean-y.
Enter high protein alfredo sauce.
I wish I could say I was a meticulous experimenter of recipes, who tried dozens of ingredient ratios to construct the perfect combination for this sauce. But if your kitchen is anything like mine, perfect ratios are reserved for very special dishes – the kind you only make once or twice a year. Every day food needs to be flexible and easily improvised. And this recipe is exactly that.
Authentic alfredo sauce is made with equal parts butter, cream, and parmesan (or parmesan-romano) cheese. When making this sauce, I simply replace the butter with a puree made from white beans. If the sauce is too thick, add melted butter or more cream.
The recipe can be adjusted to fit what you have on hand – if you’re running low on cream, supplement with butter. If you don’t have a lot of bean puree, no problem.Simply keep an eye on the consistency of the sauce and adjust ingredients if necessary.
If you don’t have cream, you can also make bechamel sauce, using flour and milk, but I prefer the flavor from the alfredo base.
High-Protein White Pasta Sauce
Serves 4-6
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup parmesan (or parmesan-romano cheese), shredded
- 1 cup white bean puree (see below)
DIRECTIONS
- To make white bean puree: Pour either a can of white beans (Great Northern works great) or cooked dry beans into the blender and puree until smooth. Add water as needed
- Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and heat through, stirring occasionally
- Serve with lightly cooked vegetables (like broccoli and mushrooms) and fettucini or other pasta of choice
This recipe was inspired by The Sneaky Chef’s healthy puree concept. If you want to eat healthier but also prefer classic American dishes to “health food”, I definitely recommend checking her out. (Thank you to a reader – New England Flybaby – who reminded me how much I like her purees!)
WHAT ABOUT YOU?
Do you use purees in your food? Do you have a favorite?
Cheers,
4 comments
Nancy @Real Food Allergy Free
08/31/2011 at 8:34 AM (UTC -6)
I think you have inspired a dairy free chicken alfredo dish. I can’t wait to experiment!
Steph
08/31/2011 at 12:30 PM (UTC -6)
Nancy – oooh, good idea! Let me know how it turns out!
New England Flybaby
08/31/2011 at 8:17 PM (UTC -6)
Oh, aren’t you sweet to mention me. BTW, thank you so much for re-posting the “What’s on Your Plate” spaghetti squash pasta. My husband is trying to avoid pasta, but he misses it, & this may be a good substitute. Thanks again for your ministry in helping people to stretch their food dollars. Hope all is well with the bambinos!! :0
Anne @ Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy
09/01/2011 at 6:08 AM (UTC -6)
Yes, Nancy, please tell me what you figure out:) I don’t know if my husband would be willing to try beans like this or not, but I’d love to give this a go!