This Mother’s Day, we were able to take over my mother’s kitchen and really go to town on cooking some recipes not just for food for the week, but for me to pay homage to my mom, who really turned me on to cooking. One of my favorite recipes she used to always make for me is her seafood fettuccine alfredo, which is absolutely to die for. It is also full of dairy and wheat. While I love that recipe, it definitely doesn’t fit into my current lifestyle, and I would hate to remember it for how it would inevitably make me feel now than how great it tasted.

After a lot of thinking on how to remake this dish, and make alfredo without cream, I finally had a breakthrough. Great, full-fat coconut milk usually has the fat separated naturally at the top. Why not use this as the cream? Of course, we also didn’t put in tons (read: any) of parmesan and romano cheeses into this either, but I’m sure you could, should the mood strike you/if you have high quality grass-fed hard cheeses at hand. The whole preparation of this recipe takes about 45 minutes, but it is totally worth it. You can’t taste the coconut flavor at all. Plus, this is also great cold for leftovers, which is my ultimate test for good food. I also want to say thanks to Pure Indian Foods for sending us a sample of their cultured ghee. It’s slightly tangy and delicious. We are always trying to introduce more cultured foods into our diet, and I think this ghee might become a new staple in the pantry.

Ingredients

1 C cream from full-fat coconut milk (2 14.5oz cans will supply)

6 large cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 white onion, diced

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp cultured ghee

1 C baby scallops, uncooked

1 C medium shrimp, tails off and cooked

1 tsp chive

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp parsley

1 large zucchini, made into zoodles

Method

Prepare your onions and garlic. Chop the onions finely, and either mince or use a garlic press for the garlic. Also, separate the cream from the coconut milk into a measuring cup.

In a medium sauté pan, heat 2 Tbsp olive oil on medium low heat. Add the onions, and sauté until translucent, approximately 4-5 minutes.

Add garlic, and continue to sauté until fragrant.

Pour in coconut cream and mix. Add in seafood and ghee and simmer for 5-6 minutes.

Use a slotted spoon to remove the seafood so that it does not toughen. It’s inevitable that you will also get some of the onion and garlic in the mix.

Reduce heat to a simmer, and chop your herbs.

Add the herbs, and reduce the sauce about 50%. This took us about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally. (This is the best time to make those zoodles)

Remove from heat, reintroduce seafood, and top over zoodles.

This will serve approximately 4 people; but if you have more than 4 people or you’re just super hungry, I would recommend making double.