Comfort in the Form of Carbs

I hate to admit it, but carbs are my love language. There is nothing more comforting to me than noodles. I guess I am the human version of the Kung Fu Panda. I have noodle dreams way too much.

Well, it’s Finals week for our high schoolers, so extra comfort is in order. Whenever I make spaghetti or Bolognese like I made last week, my oldest just wants plain noodles with butter and Parmesan. She is 17 – I can’t explain it.

Anyway, I decided to make the grown up version of that as our recipe review this week. I found a recipe for One Pan Garlic Parmesan Pasta from www.yellowblissroad.com.

It comes together very quickly, using just a few basic ingredients. The recipe is meatless, but if you wanted to, you could easily add some cooked chicken or shrimp.

As with all recipes, it helps to have all of your ingredients prepped and ready to go, like you’re on your own cooking show. So start by mincing your garlic – lots of garlic. I don’t know if I have mentioned it before, but I have a new kitchen gadget for mincing garlic and I much prefer it to my old garlic press.

All you do is place the cloves of garlic under the press and rock it back and forth. Repeat until the garlic is the consistency you want.

Next, measure out the salt and pepper, milk or heavy cream and chicken stock and set them aside.

In a deep 12” skillet, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and heat it up. Add the garlic and sauté for about a minute, until it begins to brown slightly. Next, add the butter and keep it moving with the garlic until it gets nice and bubbly. Then add the salt and pepper, 2 cups chicken broth and 1 cup of milk or heavy cream. I used heavy cream.

Stir it all well and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, lower the heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the noodles are cooked to your preferred tenderness.

The recipe said to simmer covered for 20 minutes, but I got nervous that I might burn the cream, so I checked on the noodles after about 13 minutes and found them to be perfect, so I turned off the heat.

The final step is to add the freshly shredded Parmesan cheese. The recipe suggests using a microplane to shred a thin layer across all of the noodles, then toss them to mix and repeat with another layer of cheese. This method worked great to prevent the noodles from sticking together and clumping and evenly distributed the cheese.

The recipe tops off the noodles with freshly chopped parsley. I do not tend to keep this on hand, so I skipped it altogether. I am sure it would add a little zest and some color, but it tastes amazing without it.

Serve this easy cheesy delight alongside your favorite veggies and some crusty bread and you have the perfect comfort meal. We will definitely repeat this recipe and next time I think I will throw in some plump shrimp or chicken.

You can find the recipe here – https://www.yellowblissroad.com/one-pan-garlic-parmesan-pasta/

Let me know what you think!