Alfredo Sauce with Chicken

My cousin Jenna gave me this recipe. And it is a very good recipe. I only had one complaint. And seeing as she had the same complaint I decided to see if I could do something about it. It was too thin. The sauce was very liquidy. It didn't stick to your pasta noodles. It tasted so good, but it drove me crazy how thin it was.

So I changed it. Actually, I only added one thing. And it made all the difference. Flour. I added flour and made a roux first. I found however that just cream was now too thick, so then I added plain milk and a cup cream instead.

So here is the same recipe with my changes. Which admittedly aren't that many. :)

Alfredo Sauce:
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour

Melt butter on medium to medium high heat and mix in flour. Mix together until a light yellow color.

1 cup milk (I have used anything from 2% to skim with pretty much the same results.)
1 cup cream
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder (I prefer granulated garlic. Some powders clump.)
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Stir in remaining ingredients into roux. Continue to simmer on medium heat until thickened.

Italian Chicken

Elijah feels very ripped off if I try to make the Alfredo Sauce without this chicken. It is his favorite meal with the chicken.

1-lb. chicken tenderloins
garlic salt
Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken on baking sheet covered in tin foil. Sprinkle with Italian seasoning and garlic salt. Sprinkle with olive oil for extra crispiness. Bake for 15 minutes then flip over and bake for 15 minutes or until cooked through.

Kari's Berry-misu

Adapted from Americas Test Kitchen's Tiramisu recipe.

This worked very well. My plan was perfect. You're going to have to make due without pictures. I just don't ever think of it. But this dessert was everything I dreamed it would be. Expensive. It is a costly dessert. But hey it was worth it. Because of that, I probably will make it by special request only.

Berry-misu

Step one:
1 Large (Costco size) bag of mixed frozen berries

--Defrost frozen berries. Mash and squeeze juice and separate juice from berries in two different bowls. It is extremely important you save the juice. Do not throw it out.

Step two: Make cream.

Cream ingredients:
6 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1-1/2 pounds mascarpone
3/4 cup cold heavy cream
14 ounces (2 packages) dried ladyfingers (savoiardi)

In bowl of standing mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat yolks at low speed until just combined. Add sugar and salt and beat at medium-high speed until pale yellow, 1-1/2 to 2 minutes, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula once or twice. Add mascarpone and beat at medium speed until no lumps remain, 30 to 45 seconds, scraping down bowl once or twice. Transfer mixture to large bowl and set aside.

In now-empty mixer bowl (no need to clean bowl), beat cream at medium speed until frothy, 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. Increase speed to high and continue to beat until cream holds stiff peaks, 1 to 1-1/2 minutes longer. Using rubber spatula, fold one-third of whipped cream into mascarpone mixture to lighten, then gently fold in remaining whipped cream until no white streaks remain. Set mascarpone mixture aside.

Step Three: Assembly

Working one at a time, drop half of ladyfingers into berry juice mixture, roll, remove and transfer to 13 by 9-inch glass or ceramic baking dish. (Do not submerge ladyfingers in berry juice mixture; entire process should take no longer than 2 to 3 seconds for each cookie.) Arrange soaked cookies in single layer in baking dish, breaking or trimming ladyfingers as needed to fit neatly into dish.

Spread half of mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers; use rubber spatula to spread mixture to sides and into corners of dish and smooth surface. Spread a layer of the frozen berries over the cream.

Repeat dipping and arrangement of ladyfingers; spread remaining mascarpone mixture over ladyfingers. Layer with more frozen berries (it's okay not to use them all.) Wipe edges of dish with dry paper towel. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 6 to 24 hours. Cut into pieces and serve chilled with a dab of whipped cream and a blueberry as garnish.

*Chilling is very important because it moistens the ladyfingers so they feel more like cake when you eat them.