Photo credit: Rachael Ray Show
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It only takes a few scrolls through your instagram feed to be reminded that rosé—the highly hashtag-able, easily drinkable, blush summer beverage—is literally everywhere. But I’m not one to complain. Why hate when you could celebrate?
Rosé is a warm weather winner for so many reasons; It’s pink and fruity (perfect for poolside sipping) and it’s relatively inexpensive, which begs the question... why only drink it when you could cook with it too?
I recommend using it in everything from salad (like this stunning Rosé-Macerated Peaches With Mozzarella number) to dessert (like these pretty-in-pink Rosé Donuts).
For the first episode of my YouTube series “So Basic” (watch above!), I wanted to introduce you to a really basic recipe featuring this basic ingredient. Rosé Alfredo is the perfect summertime spaghetti—It’s delicious and so shocking that you can actually taste the rosé in there.
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When we asked you what your biggest question/problem is when it comes to making Alfredo sauce at home, here’s what you had to say:
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April commented and said, "I make this all the time with cream, but don't always have it on hand. Would be interested in knowing if/how to make it without cream." Well, April, today's your lucky day, 'cause we're making Alfredo sauce without cream.
The creamy, cheesy old-timey italian sauce, in the traditional sense, is a pasta sauce that’s made by emulsifying butter, parmesan cheese and starchy pasta cooking water. Some people add cream too but as a proud member of the Haus of Ray, I do not.
To incorporate the rosé, I sauté a few cloves of chopped garlic and shallot in some (or lots of) butter and, once cooked, use it to deglaze the pan. Typically in an Alfredo sauce, you wouldn't use tomato paste, but I add a little bit of tomato paste in this recipe, because I wanted it to have a pretty rosé color. (If you're making a regular Alfredo at home, and you're not gonna use the rosé in it, you can totally skip this part). It does give it a nice flavor, but it also gives it a pink blush color. And I love the pink blush color of this pasta. It's so pretty and it just has this cute little ... it's like it's flirting with you. It has like this little blush.
After the wine has cooked out a bit, I add the al dente pasta, grated cheese and stir like crazy until the creamy, silky, cheesy pink sauce forms and, like magic, you’ve create an almost-instant, instagram-worthy supper.
Speaking of cooking with wine, we asked you guys about it on YouTube and here are the results:
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So, when you're gonna cook with wine you wanna make sure you get a nice, good quality bottle of wine. And you also wanna make sure that you cook it enough. You want to bring it to a boil and let it bubble for a just a couple minutes. That way you cook out that bitter alcohol flavor. It doesn't have to be an expensive bottle of wine. It just has to be one that you would enjoy in a glass all by itself.
Theresa commented and said, "How do I know which wine works best with the dish that I'm making?" For this dish, you wanna choose something that is nice and dry. Not something sweet, because you don't want to end up with dessert spaghetti.
Jaynie commented and said, "What can you use as a good substitute for wine?" Um, well Jaynie, I didn't quite know the answer to your question, so I did a little research and I found that the most popular answer that I could find on the Internet was to use grape juice, which I do not suggest, because that will make your dish taste like grapes. So, if you don't want to use wine for this Alfredo sauce, just totally skip the wine step, but definitely don't add grape juice, because that'll make a really weird sauce.
The best part about this dish is that in the time that it takes to cook your pasta, you’ll have made an easy, super-silky sauce—only 10 minutes, plus a few for prep and a quick toss together at the end. Don’t believe me? Watch me prove it in the video above.
Oh, and don't forget to salt your pasta cooking water — you’ll see why when you watch (#fail).
Now, sit back, pour yourself a glass and watch as everything comes up rosé!
