Fettuccine Alfredo with Salmon and Zucchini

This is the epitome of  quick and easy lazy day meals.  Not the healthiest thing ever but can easily be jazzed up so you don’t get too sick of it.

I was originally going to go out for dinner last night but didn’t feel like dealing with the cold and the possibility of wet (I’m lazy like that) so decided to whip up a meal.

Fettuccine Alfredo is one of those recipes that doesn’t really vary too much.  For the sauce you just melt some butter, add cream (I used half and half with some 2% milk to lighten things up… recipes typically call for whipping cream), salt, pepper and parmesan (freshly grated please!).  The sauce takes literally 2 minutes to make.  I usually start it while I’m draining the pasta.

If I’m doing a variation (like I did yesterday) I prep the veggies and/protein while the pasta is cooking.  The salmon is really simple.  I just season with salt and pepper (sea salt and freshly ground) and maybe a touch of garlic powder.  Then I pan fry it and break it into chunks.  For the zucchini I sauteed it in olive oil and garlic.  At the end I reserved the garlic to throw in with the sauce to give the entire dish a subtle garlic flavour.

Once the pasta was cooked and the sauce was all done I tossed the pasta into the pan with the sauce and then threw in the salmon and zucchini.  I like cheese so I threw in another dose of cheese to get things all melty and gooey and season with some more freshly  ground pepper.

To spice things up I do a mix and match of any of the following mix-ins: sauteed shrimp, spinach, mushrooms, peas, bacon, ham and even broccoli.

If I have a lot of time on my hands I’ll even MAKE the pasta from scratch.  Maybe in the next few weeks….