An alfredo sauce is almost exactly like macaroni and cheese, but somehow sounds so much classier. Amazing what a little garlic will do. Fried vegetables add a more interesting flavour, making every bite a little bit different from the last.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or crushed
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese

• 4-5 servings of dry spaghetti (I measure this as a large handful or about half of a regular package - let me know if you have a foolproof way of measuring this!)

• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• basil, thyme (~1 tsp dried or a small handful fresh)
• 1 large onion
• 1 handful mushrooms, sliced
• 2-3 carrots, chopped into half coins
• 1 bunch of broccoli, chopped into florets
• 1 tbsp soy sauce or red wine vinegar (optional)

Directions:

Pasta: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add pasta. Cook for 7-9 minutes or until it is soft enough to eat but still somewhat chewy.

Vegetables: In a large frying pan, heat the oil at medium-high until it pops when you drop water on it and then add the onion, mushrooms and herbs. Fry for a couple minutes, then add the carrots and brocolli. At this point you can add soy sauce or red wine vinegar to your taste, or add a little water to steam the broccoli with instead. Turn down the heat and stir every now and then until the other ingredients are ready.

Sauce: Follow the directions for Basic White Sauce, except fry the garlic in the butter for a minute before adding the flour and add the parmesan at the end. 

The order I usually do things in is: chop the vegetables, then heat the pasta water while starting the frying process. When the vegetables are all in the pan, I start the sauce, putting the pasta in to boil whenever the water is ready. If the pasta is ready too soon, you can drain it and leave it aside tossed with a little oil so it doesn’t stick.

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