Turkey and Butter Noodles, Camp Alfredo
Fettuccine, real parmesan, butter, and a pouch of turkey. No cream, because cream does not travel.
- calories
- 720
- weight
- 6 oz
- cal / oz
- 120
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 15 min
- total time
- 20 min
- water
- 900 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Canister stove
- Liquid fuel
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Backpacking
- Nut free
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried fettuccine | 6 oz | break the nest in half so it fits the pot |
|---|---|---|
| Shelf-stable turkey | 7 oz pouch | or vacuum-sealed wild turkey breast, cut in 1-inch pieces, eaten day one |
| Parmigiano Reggiano | 3 oz | grated at home; a hard wedge keeps for days unrefrigerated |
| Unsalted butter | 3 tbsp | carried in a screw-top jar |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Garlic | 2 cloves, or 1 tsp granulated | |
| Dried basil, oregano, and rosemary | 1 tsp total | crush the rosemary or it stays woody |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Boil about 900 ml of water with a good pinch of salt. Add the fettuccine and cook until it bends but still has some spine, roughly 9 minutes.
- Pour off the water into a mug and keep it. That starchy water is the sauce. Leave a few tablespoons in the pot with the pasta.
- Push the pasta to one side, add the oil, and warm the garlic and crushed herbs for thirty seconds. If you are using the turkey pouch, stir it in now just to heat through. If it is fresh breast, sear the pieces in the oil first, before the pasta ever goes in the pot.
- Off the heat, add the butter and stir until it melts. Then the cheese, a handful at a time, stirring hard after each.
- Loosen with the reserved pasta water a splash at a time until it coats the noodles instead of clumping. Salt, pepper, eat.
The American version of this dish leans on heavy cream, which is a non-starter in a pack. The original never had cream in it. It was butter, hard cheese, and starchy pasta water whisked into an emulsion, which happens to be exactly what a camp kitchen can produce. Nothing here needs a fridge except the meat, and a pouch solves that.
The sauce lives or dies on two things: heat and water. Add cheese to a pot still on the flame and it seizes into strings. Pull the pot, add cheese in stages, and thin with the water you saved. Dried herbs stand in for fresh; rosemary is the only one worth crushing first, since whole needles never soften.
If you carried out fresh wild turkey breast, cook it the first night. Cut it small, sear it hot, and do not trust it past day one without a cooler.
Packing
Pasta and grated cheese ride in separate bags; cheese sweats and glues itself to noodles if they share. Butter goes in a leakproof jar inside a second bag. Reserve a couple tablespoons of the cheese to scatter on top at the end.
Variations
- Swap the pouch turkey for a foil packet of chicken or a tin of sardines.
- A spoonful of powdered milk stirred into the pasta water makes the sauce more forgiving if it breaks.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table/recipes/italian-style-fettuccine-alfredo-with-turkey-tenderloin