Alfredo-style spinach pasta dish

The original fettucine Alfredo was created by an Italian - by Alfredo de Lelio in Rome in 1914. It was a very plain sauce made with only butter and Parmiggiano Reggiano, the "real" Italian parmesan cheese.

Although the original Alredo sauce was good enough to gain popularity in America, it is quite an American habit to make their dishes richer and more complex, with lots more ingredients. Notice, for example, that American pizzas have a lot more toppings than traditional Italian pizzas, which are Spartan by comparison.

The Americans did the same with the original Alfredo pasta dish and one of the many variations is a spinach pasta dish with Alfredo sauce. In this case, I've added chicken to the dish as well, but you can click here for a plainer, creamed spinach pasta dish.

But while the addition of extra ingredients is part of the "American tradition", this chicken spinach pasta dish avoids the other "tradition" of using convenient, ready-made ingredients like canned or frozen spinach and bottled Alfredo sauce.

After all, the original Alfredo sauce is so easy to prepare, why compromise with a bottled version made with cheap ingredients - like milk and starch instead of butter and Parmiggiano Reggiano cheese - and plenty of chemical additives?

Alfredo-style Chicken spinach pasta dish

• 4 to 6 pieces chicken thigh meat
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 4 tbsp butter
  
  
• 400 grams fresh spinach
• pinch of sea salt
• a bit of water
  
  
• 150 grams unsalted butter
• 140 grams Parmiggiano Reggiano, grated
  
  
• 500 grams dried pasta, cooked according to instructions.

Method:

1. Cut chicken into bite-size pieces, season with salt and set aside.
2. Heat butter in a heavy pan. Fry the chicken pieces until cooked through and lightly brown, about 5 minutes.
3. Cover to keep warm and set aside.
   
   
4. Wash and coarsely chop the spinach.
5. In a cooking pot, add barely enough water to cover the base, about 1 or 2 mm "deep". Add salt and then the spinach. Cook over moderately high heat tossing occasionally to ensure that spinach cooks evenly. Do not cover the spinach while cooking.
6. Set aside to cool, and then blend in a food processor.
   
   
7. Cook pasta according to packet instructions. While pasta is cooking, mix together the butter and Parmiggiano Reggiano (authentic Parmesan) cheese until the cheese somewhat dissolves and forms a creamy sauce.
8. Mix the sauce together with blended spinach and chicken pieces. Warm up gently and toss in the pasta.

Notes and suggestions:

1. The original alfredo pasta uses very thin, freshly-made fettuccine. But because this chicken spinach pasta dish has more and heavier ingredients, you can use thicker pasta like spaghetti, or short pasta like penne, fusilli, which are good at holding sauces.
2. This recipe also works well with pork, but not with red meats like beef, veal or mutton.