Guilt Free Alfredo

Love creamy, garlicky, cheesy Alfredo sauce but feel guilty after indulging?  Try this quick and easy recipe and trust me you will never know that is only 5.25gm fat/serving.  Lets put this into perspective, the jar Alfredo sauce you buy at the grocery store has 10gm fat/serving and an order of Fettuccine Alfredo at the Olive Garden has 75gm fat.  This in my opinion should be outlawed!  Best part about this sauce is that you can make a double, triple or quadruple batch; divide it out into freezer bags and store in the freezer for a quick after work meal.  Oh by the way... My recipe is made with all natural ingredients and no preservatives which is not true with the jar versions (I cannot speak for the Olive Garden but I would guess they are using synthetic thickeners and stabilizers)

Ingredients:
4 Tbl Butter
3 Cloves Garlic, minced (1 tsp pre chopped garlic that you store in the freezer)
4 Tbl Flour
3 Cups Whole Milk (you can use 1%, 2% or skim but you will loose a little richness)
1 Cup Chicken Stock (the canned stuff is fine if you do not have home made)
4 oz Grated Parmesan (buy the kind in the cheese case by the deli, NOT the crap in the green can!)
3 oz Fontina (again, by the nice cheeses in the deli case)

In a heavy bottomed pan melt you butter on medium heat.  Add garlic and saute until fragrant.  Add flour and whisk continuously (this is called making a roux, it is a way to thicken liquids that is very traditional in French Cooking).  Continue to stir flour/butter mixture over medium heat for 2-3 min,  it should not be turning brown.  Now dump in your milk and chicken stock all at once, whisk like crazy to prevent lumps.  Once whisked free of any lumps turn up your heat to medium high.  Continue whisking like crazy unit it comes to a boil.  You will notice that as your liquid gets hotter it gets thicker... this is good! The French would be happy!  Once you have reached a boil (and have not scorched it) you have successfully made what is called a Bechamel.  Bechamel is essentially the original version of "Cream of Fill in the Blank Soup"  Yep, no self respecting restaurant in the world uses "Cream of Anything Soup", we all make Bechamel.  So should you!

Alright now that you have made this beautiful Bechamel transfer it to your food processor.  Add your grated Parmesan cheese and the fontina (that is cut into chunks).  Add a little salt and fresh black pepper and puree until nice and smooth.  If you think your sauce looks a little thin, don't worry it will thick up a ton as it sits.  Oh, by the way you have now made a traditional French Sauce called Mornay AKA Cheese Sauce!

Now all you have gotta do is boil some pasta, toss in steamed veggies, sauteed mushrooms and grilled chicken and you have an incredibly nutritious and low fat Chicken Alfredo! 

Notes:
Can't find Fontina (or scared of it?) you can sub Mozzarella, Gouda, Butterkase or any other mild melting cheese.

You can substitute almost any melting cheese in place of the Parmesan and Fontina to make a traditional Mac and Cheese Sauce