The best Carbonara recipe for leftover Christmas Ham or Turkey

Whilst Christmas dinner looks beautiful today… tomorrow you’ll be looking for ways to use the leftovers for sure.  So here is my favourite Carbonara pasta recipe that my grandmother used to make on Boxing Day with the leftover ham.  If you have turkey left, it’s just as good.  Store this article away for tomorrow night!  

Ingredients:

30g unsalted butter

4 rashers of bacon, thinly sliced

3 tablespoons of pine nuts, toasted lightly

4 eggs, whisked

300ml thickened cream

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/3 cup (25g) finely grated parmesan, plus extra to serve

500g spaghetti noodles

2 cups (350g) shredded cooked turkey or shredded leg ham

2 tablespoons of chopped flat-leaf parsley, plus extra to serve

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions, then drain well.

Method:

Melt the butter in a deep frypan over medium flame.

Add the bacon  to the pan and cook until just starting to crisp. Add the pine nuts stirring to cook the flavours together.

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions, then drain well.

In a large heatproof bowl, mix the eggs, cream, garlic and parmesan together. Add bacon and pine nuts, and season with salt and pepper.

Add the cooked and drained pasta to the egg mixture and stir it together for 1 minute.  The heat from the pasta will cook that sauce.  Stir through the turkey or the ham leftover from Christmas Dinner and sprinkle with fresh flat leaf parsley.