Creamy Baked Fettuccine and the Horrible Spider (9/19/2009)

Well, I am normally not a huge Fettuccine fan. I thought this recipe was...eh...okay, but my husband and, surprisingly, my son Finn LOVED it. So I'm posting this recipe because I am outnumbered, but I do have one fettuccine recipe that I love that I will make sure I post in the near future.

For this recipe you will need:

-1 lb dry fettuccine pasta

-2 cups grated Asiago cheese , plus 1/4 cup

-2 (8-ounce) containers creme fraiche

-1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

-1 and 1/2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme leaves

-1/2 teaspoon salt

-1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, about 8 to 10 minutes. Drain pasta reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking liquid.

In a large bowl combine the 2 cups Aiago cheese, creme fraiche, Parmesan, thyme, salt, pepper, cooked pasta, and pasta cooking liquid. Gently toss until all the ingredients are combined and the pasta is coated. Place the pasta in a buttered baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup asiago cheese. Bake until golden on top, about 25 minutes. Let sit for at least 5 minutes and serve.

So... thanks Giada and foodnetwork.com for the "awesome" (according to Jacob and Finn) Fettuccine recipe. It was definitely fast and easy, and it made a ton which is great because the cheese was pretty expensive. I added fresh lemon juice to mine at the end and that was tasty. The recipe could probably feed five really hungry people as a main dish, more if you served it with salmon or chicken.

A little side note about my day today.... I put my hand down right on top of the most disgusting, hairy, thirty-eyed spider ever...

and I'm positive it wasn't even full grown yet. This happened today at the playground in my complex. There was also a hairball from some mangy flee bitten muff of a cat sitting in the middle of the walk way. W.T.F. Remington?!?