Over the holidays, I finally invented a tasty, well-behaved paleo pasta. 🙂 That post will go up soon, since I’ve finally finished the last few tests I needed to do; for now, as a sort of teaser, here are the two sauces I made to ladle over the lovely pasta noodles we had for our Christmas feast.
Sorry about the lack of pictures, but you guys know what cheese sauces look like, right? Okay. We’re cool then.
In addition to being grain-free, these sauces also have no garlic, onion, or pepper in them. That might seem like a sad and random omission, but it’s actually because … you guessed it … a member of my family has a food tolerance problem with garlic, onion, and hot peppers. 🙂 Since I make so many desserts, working around it is usually a non-issue; and when I do make savory foods, I often include garlic, onion, or hot peppers anyway since it isn’t a contamination issue, and he doesn’t mind! But this was for Christmas, so it had to be for everyone, and the sauces turned out really well anyway!
One quick note — you may want to have an immersion blender handy, just in case your sauce decides it’s going to get lumpy no matter what else you do.
First, we have an alfredo sauce; below that, a cheddar cheese sauce. 🙂
Cream Cheese Alfredo Sauce
Yield: 4+ cups
Ingredients:
- 4 cups heavy cream
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup cream cheese
- 1 cup grated parmesan
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp basil
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- optional: 1/4 cup tapioca starch and 1/4 tsp locust bean gum, to thicken
Directions:
1. In a medium-large saucepan on low-to-medium heat, melt together the butter and cream cheese. Once melted (or at least mostly melted), add the cream. Whisk in the seasonings (salt, black pepper, basil, and nutmeg).
2. Heat until just starting to steam, stirring often and scraping the bottom of the pan well. Once the sauce is hot, whisk in the parmesan a little at a time, giving it time to melt and integrate into the sauce before adding the next bit.
3. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the tapioca starch and locust bean gum, then whisk the mixture into the saucepan. Heat and stir until thickened. (If it doesn’t thicken, or forms lumps, blend the sauce with a blender or immersion blender, and that should force the thickener to integrate smoothly.)
4. Serve hot, and/or store in the fridge. 🙂
Paprika Cheddar Cheese Sauce
Yield: 4+ cups
Ingredients:
- 4 cups heavy cream
- 1/2 cup butter
- 4 cups grated sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- optional: 1/4 cup tapioca starch and 1/4 tsp locust bean gum, to thicken
Directions:
1. In a medium-large saucepan on low-to-medium heat, melt the butter. Once melted (or at least mostly melted), add the cream. Whisk in the seasonings (salt, black pepper, and paprika).
2. Heat until just starting to steam, stirring often and scraping the bottom of the pan well. Once the sauce is hot, whisk in the cheddar a little at a time, giving it time to melt and integrate into the sauce before adding the next bit.
3. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the tapioca starch and locust bean gum, then whisk the mixture into the saucepan. Heat and stir until thickened. (If it doesn’t thicken, or forms lumps, blend the sauce with a blender or immersion blender, and that should force the thickener to integrate smoothly.)
4. Serve hot, and/or store in the fridge. 🙂
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