A writer cooks up her favorite dish, with apologies to Pebble Beach Food & Wine.

Pebble Beach Food and Wine: It’s about the best of the best – the top chefs in the country making world-class food with distinguished sommeliers selecting high-quality (and often generously poured) wine to drink with it. Set on the breathtakingly beautiful piece of peninsula called Pebble Beach, and the experience becomes one of the best of the best many gourmands might ever have.

Since its establishment in 2008, various sponsors have helped put on Pebble Beach Food and Wine each year, showcasing the country’s greatests. This year’s April 20-23 edition, its 10th annual, features regional chefs like Justin Cogley of Aubergine, Nancy Oakes of Boulevard Restaurant and Thomas Keller of The French Laundry. Daniel Boulud helps kick off the opening night reception, Graham Elliot holds a cooking demonstration, and even Guy Fieri spices things up with a taco fiesta.

They’re here to impress, and it’s got me wondering: What would I cook to impress? It would have to be something relatively quick, something I could easily make for however many people I can fit in my modest Carmel lair and something that I believe in – and something with a balance of healthy and delicious.

One of my favorite dishes is chicken alfredo, and a wise friend once advised to only give others what you love yourself. I’ve been playing with my own version for a while now, adding bacon, later throwing in mushrooms, and substituting zucchini noodles in place of white carbs. I’m no professional, but if I can’t get someone to like chicken alfredo then I probably should just go live on bananas or something.

Chicken, Bacon and Mushroom Alfredo on Zucchini Noodles

Serves four

Ingredients:

• 6-8 slices of bacon
• 4 chicken breasts
• 6-8 ounces mushrooms of choice (shiitake and oyster work well)
• 3 or 4 cloves garlic
• 1 pint heavy cream
• 1/2 cup salted butter
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2-3 tablespoons parsley
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon butter or refined coconut oil (virgin makes things taste like coconut)
• 4 medium zucchinis

To prep:

Trim ends off zucchinis and use a spiralizer or vegetable peeler to create long, lengthwise strips. Discard seeded middle part (or snack on it). Mince garlic finely. Cut bacon strips into small squares. Chop chicken into bite-size cubes.

In a large pot, fry bacon on medium/high in its own oil. Remove and set aside.

Brown chicken on medium/high in leftover bacon oil until cooked through. Remove and set aside. Turn down the heat, melt a touch of butter if needed and saute garlic about one minute – until it’s aromatic but not beginning to burn.

Quickly add heavy cream to relieve the garlic, then butter and cream cheese and whisk on medium until melted. Add Parmesan and keep stirring until sauce is smooth.

Add garlic powder, parsley, salt and pepper to taste.

Turn up the heat until the sauce begins to boil, then turn down to low and simmer for 10-15 minutes to thicken. While sauce is thickening, melt butter or coconut oil in a separate pan on medium high. Turn down to medium and add zucchini, then toss it with salt and pepper. Let zucchini cook until softened, somewhere between 5-10 minutes (less for more of a crunch, more if you like it soft).

Add bacon, chicken and mushrooms into the thickened sauce and stir. Serve on top of cooked zucchini and optionally top with parsley and/or Parmesan.

There are some perks about my chicken, bacon and mushroom alfredo zucchini noodles: It’s a comfort food that everybody likes. (If you don’t like it, you don’t exist to me.) You can keep the sauce in the pan so it stays warm for many people. And it’s actually somewhat healthy despite being quite creamy because it’s gluten-free (for those who care), it adheres to food-combining principles (not mixing fats and carbs, which aids digestion) and between the zucchini, mushrooms and ample amounts of garlic it delivers at least a couple servings of life-affirming veggies.

It might not be as classy as anything on the Food Channel or being dished next to our famous golf courses, but it’s good enough for my friends and me.

PEBBLE BEACH FOOD & WINE happens Thursday-Sunday, April 20-23, at various venues including Spanish Bay Inn and Resort. Complete schedule and details on remaining tickets at pbfw.com