The kiddos I and have a new passion…we like to watch cooking shows together.  We’ve seen a Julia Child + Martha Stewart episode, Christina cooks on Create, and  we recently saw our first episode of Rachel Ray this past week.  We cook a lot together, so I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised by their fascination…but it did crack me up.  🙂  Anyways, Rachel Ray was talking about the real fettuccine alfredo sauce and how it was made with butter, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, and a small amount of the starchy water from the nearly cooked noodles.  It looked fabulous, and the kiddos immediately wanted to make some.  We had some whole wheat spaghetti, brown rice pasta, and gruyère cheese.  It  really was the best cheese sauce we’ve made and the best received too. 

gruyère cheese sauce

4 tbs butter
1 c gruyère, grated
1/2 c starchy water
1/2 lb whole wheat noodles or 1/2 lb brown rice noodles

I followed Rachael’s directions pretty close by warming the serving plates while noodles were cooking, adding the butter to the serving plates before adding the water, gruyère and noodles.  I used two serving plates: one for each noodle type.

We tried dried parsley on the brown rice and cherry tomatoes and dried basil with the spaghetti.  I can’t wait for my herb pot garden to enjoy this dish with the fresh herbs.  Seriously soo good!

What is your favorite cheese sauce on pasta?  And do you have a favorite cooking show?