FOOD NEWS
Oprah Winfrey's Chef Shared The Secret To Creamy Pasta Without Cream
By Kalea Martin
Creamy pasta sauce is easy to achieve when you actually have cream on hand, but what about when you’re all out, or just don’t want the sauce to be too heavy? Luckily, Oprah Winfrey's chef shared an easy and effective way to make creamy pasta without cream using an ingredient you probably already have in your pantry.
One of Oprah Winfrey's favorite foods is creamy lemon pasta with peas and mushrooms, and to make it sans the dairy, chef Philippe Chevalier uses the cooking water from oatmeal. He cooks oats in boiling water, then reserves the liquid for her pasta; when combined with other pasta ingredients, the results are unbelievably creamy.
This works because when you boil pasta, the starches leech into the water, acting as a thickener and emulsifier. Winfrey's chef technically could have used the pasta water, but the water from cooked oats is not only starchier, it's also more gelatinous, making it the perfect alternative for cream in any pasta dish.