Our “dating” anniversary was this past Thursday and, while we don’t go to great lengths to celebrate it, I was in the mood to make a special dinner to commemorate this auspicious occasion.  My husband loves steak, but that wasn’t something I could easily cook in our current apartment, so I opted for a seafood dinner… specifically, a special seafood alfredo.

For this seafood alfredo, I decided to use the meat of one cooked lobster (diced), one pound of large shrimp (sliced in half lengthwise and roasted in a 400 degree oven with salt/pepper/herbes de provence/smoked paprika until pink and curled), and one pound of angel hair pasta (cooked al dente’).

NOTE:  A traditional alfredo sauce is made by melting equal parts butter and heavy cream together before adding in mouthwateringly large amounts of parmesan cheese.  Since heavy cream is something that I (1) didn’t remember to purchase and (2) typically try not to use because it doesn’t agree with my stomach, I opted for a unique way to create the taste of an alfredo sauce without the dense feel.  I do hope you’ll consider trying it this way sometime as it’s rather tasty.

For my alfredo sauce, I started by melting a stick of margarine and a dollop of olive oil in a saute’ pan.  Once the margarine was melted, I added a generous splash of white wine (I used a local crisp white wine, but this would have been a great place to use either an oaked Reserve Chardonnay OR a sweeter Vidal Blanc) and then added two palms full of Parmesan Cheese and some garlic, whisking everything together well.  Once the cheese is fairly well melted, you’ll notice that it doesn’t look entirely appealing at this point.  It seemed a bit thin and didn’t really have the creamy texture that I wanted, nor did it have that amazing taste that I wanted.  It was a bit salty to taste, so I added freshly ground pepper and some smoked paprika, along with two spoons of creme’ fraiche that I had picked up at the store.  The sauce thickened up nicely, but to complete the sauce I added a single wedge of Laughing Cow light swiss cheese, which melted into a creamy bit of heaven.  NOTE: I added the diced lobster to the sauce to warm the meat.

When ready to plate the meal, I chose not to add the shrimp to the sauce.  Instead, I placed a serving of the pasta on each plate, divided up the shrimp among the plates and then spooned the sauce (with lobster bites) over the pasta and shrimp.  I had popped a loaf of crusty bread into the oven (as you can see in the corner photo) and sliced this up to serve along with dinner.  While I did cook some snow peas to add a vegetable to round out our meal, these went largely uneaten and could have easily been avoided altogether.

In the end, we had a really lovely anniversary dinner.  It’s been 27 years since our first “date” and 26 years since we married, so I thought it was fitting to name this recipe as our Anniversary Alfredo.  I’ve been blessed with a wonderful man who knows how much I like to cook and will eat just about anything I cook, wine or no, because he loves me.  How much better can life get than that?  Happy Anniversary to my husband… wishing everyone else a fun time with this recipe!

LAST NOTE:  If you don’t like seafood, this recipe would be lovely with roasted bites of chicken, beef or even simple roasted vegetables.  Cook what you like and your loved ones will enjoy it!