Meat Free Monday: Fettuccine Alfredo (sort of) with Cheddar and Stilton

For the second Meat Free Monday in January I decided to make a pasta dish, but wanted something more interesting than just pasta and Dolmio sauce - and something that my fiancé would still consider a 'proper meal'.

Fettuccine Alfredo is a pasta dish tossed with Parmesan cheese and butter - one of those simple dishes that needs to be done really well. I didn't have any Parmesan but did have other cheese in the fridge that needed using so I decided to make my own take on this, with Cheddar and Stilton! So it isn't really Fettuccine Alfredo at all, more of a cheesy pasta!

 

I'd seen a few recipes for Fettuccine Alfredo online that used double cream but I wanted to make a healthier version (I've lost 5 pounds in the first two weeks of this year - who needs Slimming World when you've got a wedding dress to get into?!) so substituted Quark instead (an almost-flavourless curd cheese you can get in most supermarkets).

So my recipe was:
Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook some tagliatelle.

In a separate pan, melt a little butter and stir in 2 tbsp. plain flour to make a roux. Gradually add milk, stirring, until you have a smooth sauce.

Bring to a simmer and add grated cheddar and stilton to taste. Add a tub of Quark (this made enough for three portions).

 Stir until you have a lovely thick cheesy sauce and pour over the pasta.

I served this with some broccoli and some garlic bread for my fiancé; I knew I'd have more luck persuading him to eat a vegetarian pasta dish if there was garlic bread too!

I'm sending this to the Meat Free Monday challenge, hosted by Jacqueline at Tinned Tomatoes. Jacqueline also runs the Food Blog Diary which is the place to go to find out about all these blog challenges!