This Lemon Pesto Turkey Pasta is an easy way to use up leftover holiday turkey! With bowtie pasta, basil pesto and lemon zest carbonara style
Leftover turkey, anyone? Welcome to my new favorite way to put leftover turkey to good use.
This is a quick and easy carbonara-style pasta dish made with fly noodles, onions, chopped cooked turkey, and a few eggs mixed with basil pesto and lemon zest for a creamy sauce.
I ate the whole portion. Not in one session, as much as I wanted to, but over several days.
It warms up well. I used prepared basil pesto, but any good green pesto would work just fine as long as it has parmesan cheese and garlic in it.
Lemon Pesto Turkey Pasta
ingredients
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Salt
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2 big eggs
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Zest from one lemon
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1/2 Cup prepared Basil pesto
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1/2 lb fall far (fly) Noodles
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1 tablespoon Extra virgin olive oil
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1 heaped cup chopped onion (approx one Middle Onion)
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1 clove garlicchopped
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2 cups chopped boiled turkey meat (excess turkey thigh meat works great)
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Fresh ground black pepper
method
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Boil salted water for pasta:
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tbsp of salt per 2 liters of water. (While the water is boiling, prepare the ingredients to save time.)
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Prepare egg, shell, pesto sauce:
In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, lemon zest, and pesto. Put aside.
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Cook pasta:
Put the noodles in the boiling water. The pasta should take 10 minutes to cook al dente, cooked through but still a bit firm. Cook on a bubbling boil, uncovered.
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Cook onions, add chopped cooked turkey:
While the pasta is cooking, sauté the onions in olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until translucent. Add the garlic and chopped cooked turkey. Cook until heated through, then remove from heat.
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Drain pasta:
When the noodles are done, set aside 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water and drain the noodles.
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Add pasta, sauce to onions and turkey:
Add the hot, drained pasta to the pan with the onions and turkey. Pour the egg mixture over everything and mix quickly. The heat from the pasta will sufficiently cook the eggs, but keep the pan away from the heat or the eggs will curdle in the sauce.
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Season to taste:
Season with salt (you may not need additional salt depending on the saltiness of the leftover turkey and the saltiness of the pesto).
Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper to serve. (You can also drizzle on some fresh lemon juice, if you like.) Return some of the reserved pasta water if you want the noodles to be a little fluffy or if they’re too dry.
Links:
Easy Roast Lemon Pesto Turkey from Sarah’s Cucina Bella
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 510 | calories |
| 25g | Fat |
| 45g | carbohydrates |
| 32g | protein |
