Recipes

Saturday Night Alfredo

Name: Saturday Night Alfredo
Yield: SERVES 4
Ingredients: kosher salt; 8 ounces Parmigiano, plus more for serving; 1 pound fusilli; 8 tablespoons (4 ounces/1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces; freshly ground pepper

Written by: Carla Lalli | Published on: September 24, 2026

Photo courtesy of Lucia Bell-Epstein

SERVES 4 |

“My kids know Alfredo as ‘cheesy pasta,’ but it’s the same thing,” writes Carla Lalli. “I favor De Cecco fusilli, the same brand [my mother] Carole had in the pantry—the coils just feel right.”

Tip

If the cheese looks stringy once added to the pasta, move the pot onto the counter to cool.

Ingredients

kosher salt

8 ounces Parmigiano, plus more for serving

1 pound fusilli

8 tablespoons (4 ounces/1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil for the pasta.

2. In the meantime, break the Parm into a few pieces and blend them in a blender or mini chopper on low speed until the cheese is in small beads, about 30 seconds. Set the blender Parm aside. (Alternatively, use a food processor. Or, grate the cheese on the large holes of a box grater, then finely chop. All of these methods are preferable to using a Microplane.)

3. Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for a minute or two less than package instructions; it should be very al dente and will finish cooking in the sauce. Scoop out about 2 cups pasta water, then drain the fusilli and return the pasta to the hot pot. Add the butter and stir until it’s melted and coats the noodles.

4. Gradually add the blender Parm, stirring constantly and adding splashes of pasta water as needed to help the cheese melt. The residual heat of the pot should be more than sufficient to melt the cheese; keep stirring and adding cheese. Once all of the cheese has been added, stir until the sauce is creamy and blankets the noodles completely. Pasta water will give the cheese something to emulsify into; use it to adjust the consistency of the sauce.

5. Taste the pasta and season the Alfredo with a few grinds of pepper and additional salt, if needed. Serve with more cheese for passing at the table.

Excerpted from Food Is a Feeling: Recipes and Stories, with Love by Carla Lalli. Copyright © 2026 by Carla Lalli. Photographs copyright © 2026 by Lucia Bell-Epstein. Published in the United States by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.

Originally featured in Carla Lalli on the Mother Sauce That Binds