Ham on the Fly

So when my father brings food down to us from PA, it comes in two variations of the same theme: tons of Chinese from one of our family friends' restaurants (and our favorite when it comes to Chinese food anywhere); or tons of food of other varieties. Of late, he had brought us a whole smoked garlic chicken from Amish country, and a honey ham. In one weekend. Granted, we love honey ham, but an entire ham is not easily consumed by our little family. Maybe when Baby2 is a teenager, it'll come in handy; but for now, it's become the obstacle in the fridge. (And, as for the smoked chicken, not my favorite, so it may go the way of the dodo bird.)

That said, this evening I was going to take the ham and do a simple meat and potatoes meal that would make Hubby proud. But upon finding that our drawer was empty of potatoes, Hubby had a *ding* brilliant idea: carbonara. Would it work without the smoked flavor of prosciutto or pancetta? We were going to find out. Fast recipe? You bet.

We took 2 slices of the ham, and Hubby chopped it into smidgen pieces. Then we followed the classic methods for preparing carbonara. Result? Yums ingested by all, even by our most doubting Baby1. And never mind Baby2 - he inhaled the pasta like he was made in Italy. He even delved into the ham - and for him, in our house, that's an accomplishment.

As for the ham... alas, it may survive to fight another day. There are only so many times I can serve ham before it becomes, ahem, a ham of boredom.

Carbonara
2 thick slices ham, chopped (about 1.5 cups worth)
3 large cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
1/2 onion, diced
1/2c white wine (we used *OMG* fatty chardonnay)

Bucatini (hollow spaghetti - not the easiest to pick up on a fork, but damn it tastes good) - we used a whole pack (serves about 6-8)

3 eggs, whisked to frothy
4 springs broad leaf parsley, leaves only, finely chopped
Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated (about 1c worth)

Salt/pepper to taste

1. Start by sauteing the ham in the pan, to draw out as much oil as possible; and start up a pot of water for the pasta.
2. Add onions and garlic to the ham, and saute until fragrant. Add freshly ground black pepper and wine, and saute on low heat in the pan until the wine has just about evaporated - and nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pan.
3. Once the water is boiling, add a generous sprinkling of salt. Add pasta, and cook the pasta.
4. While the pasta is cooking, and while you keep an eye on your ham mixture, break 2 eggs into a large mixing bowl, where you'll mix the pasta. Whisk until frothy, then stir in chopped parsley and parmigiano reggiano. NOTE: if the wine in the ham mixture evaporates too quickly before your pasta is done, turn off the heat before you scorch the hell out of the mixture, take it off the heat, and lid it to keep in as much moisture as possible.
5. Drain the pasta once al dente, and add to egg mixture. Stir at once, to allow the heat of the pasta to cook the eggs a bit and let any residual pasta water mix with the eggs to create a thick sauce.
6. Add ham mixture, and stir well. Add a little salt (kosher's best for adding at this point, as the broad nature of the salt coats the pasta well without over-sodiumizing your dish) and pepper to taste.
7. Serve hot, preferably with a fresh garden salad.

Thanks to Hubby's ingenuity, we averted a typical man-meal. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but hey - I'll take carbonara any day over ho-hum meat and potatoes.