I make a Garlic & Herb Butter Sauce for pasta dishes. I know that this is high in fat and cholesterol mainly because it is all butter. Is there a way to keep the great taste but reduce the amount of fat and cholesterol?
Yes — leave out the butter! You can rise to a few different levels of health-conscious cooking with other ingredients. It depends on how reduced you want the fat.
You can substitute extra virgin olive oil for some or all of the butter. This will not reduce the total fat. However, it will reduce the artery-clogging saturated fat. I use the first-pressed, extra virgin version, because its full flavor mimics intensity of butter.
Or, you can sauté the garlic and herbs in butter-flavored no-stick cooking spray. Then, add volume with a full-flavored, fat-free chicken broth or vegetable broth. The dry Butter Buds, from the spice shelves, work with broth, too.
All the way down the fat scale is a little trick I discovered while creating a wonderful salmon and pasta recipe. You cook angel hair pasta in just enough chicken broth with herbs, and the broth thickens as the pasta cooks. When you turn it out onto the plate, the sauce coats the pasta just like a butter sauce. Try it with your recipe ingredients, sans the butter.