Note: We went shopping on Wednesday before Thanksgiving, which meant that both the Union Square Farmers Market and Trader Joe's were SUPER crowded, and so getting good photos of the shopping was impossible (plus, it was raining--bleh).
Ingredients for this really easy, cheap, and divinely delicious dish:
-For fettucini noodles for two
- 1 egg ($0.42)
- 1/2 -2/3 cup flour (don't know--about $0.80?)
- A pinch of salt
-1 turkey breast (we used the leftovers for other, more "Thanksgivinny" dishes) $ 9.70
-1 bunch sage $1.29
-1 small head broccoli, cut in small pieces ($1)
-Organic cream, small box $1.69
-Organic butter $3.99
-A piece of Parmesan cheese $4.35 (we have used this piece for six more meals!)
-Red pepper flakes (we had some at home)
Grand Total: $23.24--divided by two, about $12 per plate.
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| The bounty from the Union Square Farmers Market: yummy carrots, potatoes, and onions (we baked them with olive oil at a later time to eat with the leftover turkey). Also: the broccoli for this dish. |
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| The turkey breast from Trader Joe's. |
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| Preparing the stove-top smoker for the turkey breast with a tablespoon of Alder wood. |
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| The smoked turkey breast (and bone). |
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| Preparing the fresh fettucine. One egg and 1/2 to 2/3 cup flour, plus some salt. |
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| Streeeetching the pasta dough and cutting it... |
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| The result: yummy homemade fettucini noodles. In 10 minutes!! We let them dry a bit before cooking them in boiling water. |
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| Cubing the smoked turkey breast. Slicing the sage. |
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| Adding the cooked noodles (they take about 3 minutes) to 1/2 cup of organic cream, some organic butter, and the sage. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and add 1/4-1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese. |
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| The steamed broccoli goes last. |
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| Add two forks, some red pepper and viola! an excellent Thanksgiving meal for two with a glass of red wine each. :-) |
What I learned from making this dish:
- Making your own pasta is not only amazingly easy and cheap; it also tastes so good that we have vowed never to eat regular pasta when we have the 15 minutes to knead our own.
- Pasta Alfredo began as a dish that an Italian restaurateur named--you guessed it-- Alfredo made for his pregnant wife, who was having trouble eating spicier dishes. It was pasta with lots of butter. Later, cream replaced the butter because it makes for a creamier sauce.
- Smoked turkey is amazingly tasty. We are now using it to make our own sandwiches instead of using the processed stuff from the supermarket (the cost is about the same). If only we had time to make the cheese...
