Best cheat creamy sauce?

What I use (live in Italy) is "Panna Chef Leggera". It's 132 cal for 100g, that's half of reg cream "Panna Chef". I've had great luck using it, especially in risottos. I don't make Carbonara because my husband doesn't eat meat--bacon or pancetta or guanciale. I see you're in England and don't know if you can buy it there, or something similar.

thelastnightingale wrote: »

I can't get Panna Chef Leggera easily, but it's not impossible. Might see if some of the specialist Italian shops here import it.

Thinking about it, the ridiculously complicated recipe I saw using rice was to get at the starch, so using the starchy pasta water makes sense. I assume cacio e pepe is like carbonara in that you can only really make as much as you need, because it doesn't keep at all? Still, it looks relatively simple (once you acquire the technique, which I appreciate is going to be the hard part!) so perhaps having to make it from scratch each time won't be too much of a pain.

Thanks so much for the suggestions!

One more tip about the cacio pepe. I have only successfully made it in a cold bowl or pan, not the hot pan that the pasta cooked in. Every once in a while, the hubby (who is a stickler for food temperature) insists I try to make it in the hot pan the pasta cooked in. The cheese always splits when I try this. If you have someone in the house who insists on steaming hot pasta, have them pop their serving in the microwave for a minute afterwards.

I’d almost always choose to have a tomato sauce with pasta but I’ve had success with using ricotta on the occasion I want something creamy instead.

A couple of days ago I made a Lemon Orzo dish which was amazing. 50g of ricotta, zest of a lemon, lemon juice from half the lemon, black pepper and chopped fresh parsley. Threw some frozen peas and some chopped dwarf beans into the pasta water for the last few mins. Drained, reserving some of the starchy water, let down the ricotta mix with the pasta water, stirred into the Orzo & greens! Was so tasty and hit the creamy comfort spot!

Try making a cream cheese based sauce. I usually use light cream cheese or Neufchatel with some olive oil, parmesan and water. Its good on pasta and chicken. It tastes similar to alfredo.

This is similar to what I make, but I don't use a recipe usually. 10 Minute Cream Cheese Pasta

gallicinvasion wrote: »

I second the cream cheese based sauce, but also I use this all the time and love it:


https://showmetheyummy.com/healthy-alfredo-sauce-recipe/#recipe

This looks very good--will try.

I tried to reheat leftover cacio e pepe sauce that was congealed at the bottom of the pan I made it in. Heated very gently with a few tablespoons of starchy pasta water seemed to work. However, when I stirred in the hot macaronni the cheese did start to clump and separate.

I make a chicken and rice dish with broth, egg and lemon. It makes a nice creamy sauce.
Also, you can substitute Greek yogurt in sauces that call for sour cream. That really helps a lot.

I managed to reheat leftover carbonara sauce. First picture the unappetizing dregs of the leftover sauce (mostly pancetta), straight out of the refrigerator. I boiled some macaronni, stirred in 2 tablespoons of hot starchy pasta water into the sauce, stirred in an extra egg and then the cooked macaronni.

Here's mine on linguine. I didn't have basel in the house but I did have some mint.

Though a lot recipes online use grated parmesan in salmon carbonara. Hmm. Might provide this on the table.

I was in the mood for something decadent. Made my lower calorie version of Alfredo sauce tonight: I had it with fettuccine (55g dry) and cubed rotisserie chicken breast (120 g).
Total: 600 calories. Plus berry/Greek yogurt sorbet topped with granola for dessert. So filling! Total meal ~875

1/2 c/120 ml, Milk, 2% fat
0.33 cup, Parmesian cheese
1 c/240 ml(s), Chicken Broth
1 tbsp, Butter
2 tbsp, Half and half
0.50 tbsp, Olive Oil
0.50 oz, Neufchâtel Cheese
dash of white pepper
0.80 Tbsp (8g), Corn Starch dissolved in cold water


Started by sweating finely diced onion/celery/garlic in a bit of olive oil until tender. Added all the ingredients except corn starch and slowly brought to a boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Thicken with corn starch slurry as needed. Makes two servings: ~200 calories per.