rich and creamy alfredo sauce

i am a red sauce guy. i love tomato based sauces and it's kind of hard to make a shift from sweet and tangy to rich and creamy. i was not a big fan of anything doused in white sauce before. i think it's because my first exposure was not a very good one. it was this linguini dish that my classmate brought to school during a potluck and the sauce was pooling at the bottom of the container and the pieces of ham spread throughout the dish was sparse and did not taste very good. i can't remember what she called it, but it's a good thing i don't remember the name because it could've ruined my future experiences to dishes with a similar name.

when i met shawn, his love for white sauce made it hard for me to douse my pasta dishes with red sauce. he loved this cheesy, rich, creamy and slightly salty sauce. he wanted it on all types of pasta dishes, no matter what the meat was. anyway, i got a little tired of the jarred ones so i have made a few different concoctions and arrived to this one. this was not too salty, rich, creamy, garlicky and perfect to take in other flavors like sauteed mushrooms or sun dried tomatoes. also, aside from using it as a sauce for pasta, there's also the option to dip your breadsticks in it. so, are you ready to gather the ingredients and start making this? go!

alfredo sauce

ingredients:

1/2 stick butter (1/4 cup)
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp  minced shallots
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
pepper

directions:

1. in a medium sized pot over medium heat, melt butter, add shallot and garlic and cook until soft, translucent but not brown.

2. pour heavy cream and let it come to a simmer, add grated parmesan cheese and pepper to taste. if you want to add salt, be wary because the cheese is already salty. easy, right?