In these late summer months, fresh zucchini and squash are abundant. Maybe you are lucky enough to have a garden or have a gardener friend, but even if you are just shopping at markets, zucchini and squash will be cheap and delicious right now! This Vegetable Fettuccine Alfredo is the perfect use for these fresh veggies! (This Heirloom Tomato Tart is perfect for your fresh tomatoes!)
While you can buy jarred alfredo sauce, the homemade version is surprisingly easy to make. It’s basically just butter and cream simmered for a short amount of time and tossed with the pasta. It might be the easiest of white sauces to make!
Even though I think this pasta has some fancy elements to it, it’s seriously a 30-minute dinner. It always surprises me how fast an alfredo comes together!
What vegetables work best for this recipe
There are no hard and fast rules here with a pasta dish like this. Personally, I like more mild summer vegetables like squash and zucchini and even fresh peas would be nice. You want to choose vegetables that don’t turn to mush when cooked, but also aren’t too sturdy or overpowering.
Personally, I would stay away from carrots, broccoli or cauliflower in this recipe, but thin asparagus would work fine as they tend to be more tender after a quick saute.
I’m kind of on the fence on mushrooms for this recipe. They would work okay, but I prefer them in a pasta recipe like this mushroom carbonara.
How to Cook the Vegetables
There are a few tricks to make these vegetables tender in this dish and also avoiding turning them to mush. One trick is to slice them and sear them in a hot skillet over medium-high heat so they have some color, BUT you don’t want them to get mushy.
Just a few minutes of cooking will be enough.
Add the sweet corn as well and continue to cook. Again, this is a quick sear on the vegetables. Don’t overcook them or your finished vegetables will be too mushy in the pasta.
Once the vegetables are cooked, scoop them into a bowl and reserve them for later. Wipe out the skillet and you are ready to make the sauce!
Making the Alfredo Sauce
This is a fun sauce to make. You want a low to medium heat here or it will scald the heavy cream.
Melt the butter in the same large skillet along with the garlic. Then add the cream and bring it to a simmer.
When the sauce has simmered for a few minutes, add the parmesan cheese and it’s done!
It’s okay if the sauce looks a little thin at this point. It will continue to thicken when it mixes with the cooked pasta.
Finishing the Fettuccine Alfredo
Cook your fettuccine in salted water until it is just al dente and then add it to the skillet along with the reserved vegetables.
Toss everything together to finish the vegetable fettuccine alfredo!
Use tongs to really mix the fettuccine alfredo together well. If the sauce seems too thick, add some reserved pasta water to thin it out. If it seems too thin, just continue to toss the pasta together over low heat and it will thicken up just fine.
Season the finished pasta with salt and pepper (probably needs a pinch of both).
Serve the vegetable fettuccine alfredo up with some lemon zest and fresh chives or scallions!
Substitution ideas
This is a very flexible fettuccine alfredo and I encourage you to experiment with the vegetables and pasta you use.
We already talked about some of the vegetable substitutions, but feel free to experiment there. You could also change up the pasta though by using something like penne, bucatini, or even spaghetti in a pinch. I think wider noodles tend to be more common in alfredo recipes though.
While the focus of this recipe is the vegetables, if you wanted to add some extra protein to the dish, you could add grilled chicken breast or even crunchy bacon bits to the pasta as a big protein and flavor boost.
Storing and Reheating this Fettuccine Alfredo
Leftover alfredo doesn’t have a super long shelf life. It’ll keep okay for a few days in the fridge though. Whatever you do, don’t microwave the leftovers!
Reheat the pasta over low heat in a skillet with a splash of water and it’ll come back to life!
Vegetable Fettuccine Alfredo
Ingredients
- 10 ounces fettuccine, cooked
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 medium zucchini, sliced
- 1 summer squash, sliced
- 1 ear sweet corn, kernels removed
- 6 tablespoons butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 1 cup parmesan cheese
- 1 lemon, zest only
- Fresh scallion, garnish
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Boil fettuccine in salted water until it’s cooked through al dente. When done, reserve 1 cup of pasta water and drain pasta and set aside.
- Meanwhile, add olive oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add zucchini and squash and sautee with a pinch of salt and pepper until the vegetables start to take on some color, but don’t get mushy, maybe 2-3 minutes. Then add corn and cook for another minute or two.
- Remove vegetables from the skillet. Wipe out skillet and add butter and garlic. When butter is melted, turn heat down to medium and add cream. Stir together and bring to a slight simmer. Simmer sauce for 2-3 minutes and then turn heat down to low. Stir in parmesan cheese near the end.
- Add pasta to the skillet along with vegetables. Toss to combine. If sauce seems too thick, add reserved pasta water to thin it out. The sauce will continue to thicken as the pasta cools.
- Season alfredo pasta with salt and pepper to taste and serve immediately garnished with lemon zest and fresh scallion or chives.
- Leftover fettuccine keeps fine in the fridge for a few days. Reheat gently in a skillet over low heat with a splash of water. Do not microwave.
Ines Di Lelio
HISTORY OF ALFREDO DI LELIO CREATOR IN 1908 OF “FETTUCCINE ALL’ALFREDO” (“FETTUCCINE ALFREDO”), NOW SERVED BY HIS NEPHEW INES DI LELIO, AT THE RESTAURANT “IL VERO ALFREDO” – “ALFREDO DI ROMA” IN ROME, PIAZZA AUGUSTO IMPERATORE 30
With reference to your article I have the pleasure to tell you the history of my grandfather Alfredo Di Lelio, who is the creator of “Fettuccine all’Alfredo” (“Fettuccine Alfredo”) in 1908 in the “trattoria” run by his mother Angelina in Rome, Piazza Rosa (Piazza disappeared in 1910 following the construction of the Galleria Colonna / Sordi). This “trattoria” of Piazza Rosa has become the “birthplace of fettuccine all’Alfredo”.
More specifically, as is well known to many people who love the “fettuccine all’Alfredo”, this famous dish in the world was invented by Alfredo Di Lelio concerned about the lack of appetite of his wife Ines, who was pregnant with my father Armando (born February 26, 1908).
Alfredo di Lelio opened his restaurant “Alfredo” in 1914 in Rome and in 1943, during the war, he sold the restaurant to others outside his family.
In 1950 Alfredo Di Lelio decided to reopen with his son Armando his restaurant in Piazza Augusto Imperatore n.30 “Il Vero Alfredo” (“Alfredo di Roma”), whose fame in the world has been strengthened by his nephew Alfredo and that now managed by me, with the famous “gold cutlery” (fork and spoon gold) donated in 1927 by two well-known American actors Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks (in gratitude for the hospitality).
See the website of “Il Vero Alfredo”.
I must clarify that other restaurants “Alfredo” in Rome do not belong and are out of my brand “Il Vero Alfredo – Alfredo di Roma”.
The brand “Il Vero Alfredo – Alfredo di Roma” is present in Mexico with 2 restaurants (Mexico City and Puebla) and 2 trattorias (Mexico City and Cozumel) on the basis of franchising relationships with the Group Hotel Presidente Intercontinental Mexico.
The restaurant “Il Vero Alfredo” is in the Registry of “Historic Shops of Excellence – section on Historical Activities of Excellence” of the Municipality of Roma Capitale.
Best regards Ines Di Lelio
IN ITALIANO
STORIA DI ALFREDO DI LELIO, CREATORE DELLE “FETTUCCINE ALL’ALFREDO” (“FETTUCCINE ALFREDO”), E DELLA SUA TRADIZIONE FAMILIARE PRESSO IL RISTORANTE “IL VERO ALFREDO” (“ALFREDO DI ROMA”) IN PIAZZA AUGUSTO IMPERATORE A ROMA
Con riferimento al Vostro articolo ho il piacere di raccontarVi la storia di mio nonno Alfredo Di Lelio, inventore delle note “fettuccine all’Alfredo” (“Fettuccine Alfredo”).
Alfredo Di Lelio, nato nel settembre del 1883 a Roma in Vicolo di Santa Maria in Trastevere, cominciò a lavorare fin da ragazzo nella piccola trattoria aperta da sua madre Angelina in Piazza Rosa, un piccolo slargo (scomparso intorno al 1910) che esisteva prima della costruzione della Galleria Colonna (ora Galleria Sordi).
Il 1908 fu un anno indimenticabile per Alfredo Di Lelio: nacque, infatti, suo figlio Armando e videro contemporaneamente la luce in tale trattoria di Piazza Rosa le sue “fettuccine”, divenute poi famose in tutto il mondo. Questa trattoria è “the birthplace of fettuccine all’Alfredo”.
Alfredo Di Lelio inventò le sue “fettuccine” per dare un ricostituente naturale, a base di burro e parmigiano, a sua moglie (e mia nonna) Ines, prostrata in seguito al parto del suo primogenito (mio padre Armando). Il piatto delle “fettuccine” fu un successo familiare prima ancora di diventare il piatto che rese noto e popolare Alfredo Di Lelio, personaggio con “i baffi all’Umberto” ed i calli alle mani a forza di mischiare le sue “fettuccine” davanti ai clienti sempre più numerosi.
Nel 1914, a seguito della chiusura di detta trattoria per la scomparsa di Piazza Rosa dovuta alla costruzione della Galleria Colonna, Alfredo Di Lelio decise di aprire a Roma il suo ristorante “Alfredo” che gestì fino al 1943, per poi cedere l’attività a terzi estranei alla sua famiglia.
Ma l’assenza dalla scena gastronomica di Alfredo Di Lelio fu del tutto transitoria. Infatti nel 1950 riprese il controllo della sua tradizione familiare ed aprì, insieme al figlio Armando, il ristorante “Il Vero Alfredo” (noto all’estero anche come “Alfredo di Roma”) in Piazza Augusto Imperatore n.30 (cfr. il sito web di Il Vero Alfredo).
Con l’avvio del nuovo ristorante Alfredo Di Lelio ottenne un forte successo di pubblico e di clienti negli anni della “dolce vita”. Successo, che, tuttora, richiama nel ristorante un flusso continuo di turisti da ogni parte del mondo per assaggiare le famose “fettuccine all’Alfredo” al doppio burro da me servite, con
l’impegno di continuare nel tempo la tradizione familiare dei miei cari maestri, nonno Alfredo, mio padre Armando e mio fratello Alfredo. In particolare le fettuccine sono servite ai clienti con 2 “posate d’oro”: una forchetta ed un cucchiaio d’oro regalati nel 1927 ad Alfredo dai due noti attori americani M. Pickford e D. Fairbanks (in segno di gratitudine per l’ospitalità).
Desidero precisare che altri ristoranti “Alfredo” a Roma non appartengono e sono fuori dal mio brand di famiglia.
Il brand “Il Vero Alfredo – Alfredo di Roma” è presente in Messico con 2 ristoranti (Città del Messico e Puebla) e 2 trattorie (Città del Messico e Cozumel) sulla base di rapporti di franchising con il Group Hotel Presidente Intercontinental Mexico.
Vi informo che il Ristorante “Il Vero Alfredo” è presente nell’Albo dei “Negozi Storici di Eccellenza – sezione Attività Storiche di Eccellenza” del Comune di Roma Capitale.
Grata per la Vostra attenzione ed ospitalità nel Vostro interessante blog, cordiali saluti
Ines Di Lelio
Seema
Loved the recipe. I am pure veg and looking for vegetarain recipes from popular chefs. Am definitely going to try this. Your pictures make me hungry
Penny Willhite
You will move this recipe to a whole new dimension by adding some crushed red pepper flakes! And why on earth would you not put mushrooms in the mix? Red bell peppers are nice too. I favor green peas over corn, and I do add carrots but give them some extra saute time before adding.
I do not use corn. This is such a great recipe because you can truly make it your own. Thanks for sharing.