Low-Cal Fettccine Alfredo

I've had a craving for pasta lately. I found this recipe at Food Network and added chicken to it. I thought I'd share it here. Usually, alfredo sauce is way too rich for me to eat more than a few bites, but this one is lighter and had a very good flavor.

This is the recipe I used. I don't know about it being especially that "low calorie", especially if you used this as 4 servings. I think it would easily make 8 reasonable sized servings, as 3 of us ate it and I have a huge bowl of leftovers.

I baked one large boneless, skinless chicken breast (sprinkled w/ garlic powder, salt and pepper at 350 degrees for 30 min.) and chopped it and added it into the sauce at the end. It really made it good.

I also highly recommend having the sauce ingredients measured out and ready to go. It is a fast process and it helped to have everything ready. Even then, I almost scorched the garlic.

I also did not use "fresh" pasta. I used boxed fettuccinne and cooked for 14 min.

Don't forget to use the pasta water for thinning. I did need it and was glad I didn't miss this step.
***************************************************************************

Low-Cal Fettuccine Alfredo


Ingredients
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest (about one lemon)
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
1 cup low-fat (2%) milk
Kosher salt
2 tablespoons Neufchtel or low-fat cream cheese
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
12 ounces fresh fettuccine
Freshly ground pepper
Directions
Make the sauce: Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and lemon zest and cook until the garlic is slightly soft, about 1 minute. Add in the flour and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon,1 minute. Whisk in the milk and 3/4 teaspoon salt and cook, whisking constantly, until just thickened, about 3 minutes. Add the Neufchatel and parmesan cheese; whisk until melted, about 1 minute. Stir in the chopped parsley.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the fettuccine and cook until al dente, 2 to 3 minutes. Reserve 1 cup cooking water, then drain the pasta and return to the pot.

Add the sauce and 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking water to the pasta and gently toss to combine, adding more cooking water as needed to loosen. Season with salt. Divide among bowls and top with parmesan and pepper.


Per serving: Calories 490; Fat 15 g (Saturated 8 g); Cholesterol 48 mg; Sodium 734 mg; Carbohydrate 66 g; Fiber 3 g; Protein 20 g