A second blog? Wow!

Two blogs in one night? How swell!

As you saw from my previous blog I haven't had a ton of time to make spectacular dishes (har har), but I will share the few notable items with you. Lucky you!

This is an example of the fat amateur being creative. It was 2am, I didn't feel like going to the store, and I didn't have a whole lot of stuff to work with. Now, I know not everyone has this lying around, but... hey, it was fun. This is a casserole style dish, which I rarely do since I live alone. But it sounded amazing. I call it Tortellini Alfredo Bake! WHOOOOOO

I made the alfredo sauce from scratch, which is easy to do if you know how. The basic ingredients are butter, cream, and Parmesan. I started with half a stick of unsalted butter (no substitute will do! It must be real butter). I melted that in a large sauce pan. When that was melted, I slowly stirred in a little over a cup and a half of cream (leftover from my risotto). You must continually stir to ensure it does not separate. When that was hot, I added about 3/4 cup of shredded fresh Parmesan. You must constantly stir this, and it may take a while to melt the Parmesan. When the cheese is fully melted in the cream, you can add spices. You don't want to add the spices until the end, or you may burn them up. I used a very powdery organic garlic powder, fresh cracked pepper/sea salt, and a bit of parsley flake. I was conservative on spicing since this was the first time I used hand-grated Parmesan. When the heat was off, I stirred in a couple teaspoons of all purpose flour to thicken it a slight bit.

I cooked the tortellini for a short time. I did not cook it fully, as I did not want it to overcook while baking. I used the tri-color cheese tortellini. When the frozen pasta was hot, I pulled it, strained it, and put it in a greased baking dish. I added the sauce to it, and incorporated it throughout. I added pre-shredded mozzarella on top and baked it in a 400 degree oven. When it barely started to brown, and the sauce was boiling, I pulled it out.

The flavor was ok. I definitely overdid it on the cheese aspect. I think if a different pasta or tortellini was used it could have broken it up a lot more. The overall experience was good, and it made for great leftovers. It was a good example of how finding a bunch of crap in your place can be put to some good. I didn't have to go to the store or anything :).

My hands are tired. I am done with this, but if you have any questions/comments let me know. Later, y'all.