Want a healthy, tasty and budget friendly pasta recipe? Try my Vegetarian Alfredo Pasta Sauce with Parmigiano (Parmesan) and Asiago cheese. Simple and fast, this Italian recipe will become a favorite in your kitchen. A vegan version of this Alfredo pasta sauce can be also made, replacing butter and cheese with margarine or olive oil and soy cheese.

Ingredients and Instructions (2 servings)

• 1/4 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup of grated Parmigiano cheese
• 1/2 cup of shredded Asiago cheese
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream
• fresh thyme, sage or basil
• 1 carrot
• 1 stalk celery
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1/2 cup of peas
• salt and pepper
• 1/2 pound of penne or other type of pasta

1. Fill up a medium size pot with water and bring to boil. Meanwhile, prepare what in Italy we call “soffritto” of onion, celery and carrot - known everywhere else as “the trio” or “mirepoix” - which is the base for most Italian pasta sauce. Here is how it’s done:

2. Peel and clean the carrot, the celery and the onion and chop everything medium fine. Then sauté the veggies in a pan with the butter and a pinch of salt and pepper, until the vegetables are tender and start getting a light gold color. At the very end, add the peas to the soffritto - they don’t need a lot of cooking - and sauté one more minute.

3. Add the heavy cream, the grated Parmesan and Asiago cheese, and half of the fresh chopped thyme or sage. Stir the mix, turn off the fire, cover with a lid and set aside.

4. By now the water should be boiling, add a spoonful of salt, stir, then add the pasta and stir again. Cook the pasta al dente – you can tell if it’s ready trying to bite the pasta about one minute before the indicated cooking time on the pasta package; it has to be cooked but still firm. If so, take the pot off the fire, pour at least one quarter of cold water to stop the cooking, then drain and transfer immediately to the pan with the sauté veggies. Mix gently – but well - all the ingredients making sure that the pasta gets nicely coated with the condiment.

5. Turn on the fire under the pan on medium and let cook just for a half minute or so, while mixing gently, until the sauce gets slightly bubbly.
Serve right away, topping with the rest of the fresh herbs and some fresh ground pepper.

Buon Appetito!