Alfredo & Spicy Chicken

For dinner this evening, I decided to try two things.

Fettuccine Alfredo Recipe

INGREDIENTS

• ½ pound dry fettuccine pasta
• 3-4 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
• ½ cup cream
• Nutmeg

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of salty water to a boil and drop in your fettuccine.
2. Melt the butter in a large sauté pan set over low heat. Add the cream to the butter as it melts. Stir often to combine the two, do not turn off the heat, but keep the heat at its lowest setting while the pasta cooks.
3. When the fettuccine is al dente (cooked, but still a little firm) lift it out of the pot with tongs and move the pasta to the sauté pan. Do not drain the pasta. You want it dripping wet with the cooking water. Turn on the heat under the sauté pan to medium and swirl the pasta and butter together to combine. Add half the cheese, then swirl and toss the pasta until it has incorporated into the sauce. If needed, add a few spoonfuls more of the pasta cooking water. Add the rest of the cheese and repeat.
4. Serve at once with either a little black pepper (for classic version) or nutmeg (for creamy version) ground over the pasta.

The Alfredo sauce turned out really well. My standard for that type of dish is from the Tidewater, and this recipe stood up to the test.

Popeye’s Fried Chicken Copycat

Ingredients:

• 3-3 ½ lb frying chicken , with skin cut up
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons white pepper
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 tablespoon salt

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 425°F. Melt butter in 13x9-inch pan in oven.
2. In shallow dish, mix flour, paprika, salt and pepper. Coat chicken with flour mixture. Place chicken, skin sides down, in pan.
3. Bake uncovered 30 minutes. Turn chicken; bake about 30 minutes longer or until juice is clear when thickest part is cut to bone (170°F for breasts; 180°F for thighs and legs).

This chicken did not turn out as well as the pasta did. I love Popeye's fried chicken, and after searching the Internet for clones, I thought that this version had the least amount of wierd stuff. It was also the closest, ingredient-wise, to a recipe for Oven Fried Chicken that I make from the Betty Crocker Cookbook. So, I used the clone's ingredients, and Betty Crocker's directions. Oh my, was it spicy. Way too spicy for Tom, and almost too spicy for me. It was so spicy, I couldn't tell if the flavor was even close to Popeye's! Oh well, you win some, you lose some.