Spaghetti Combonara

I love spaghetti carbonara. With a sauce of bacon, eggs, and cheese over spaghetti its the best breakfast has to offer, without actually eating breakfast for dinner. The problem with spaghetti carbonara is that it tends to be a bit heavy.

Last night I attempted to lighten up the dish a bit. I don't use cream in my carbonara and only had one egg. Also, instead of using bacon I used Black Forest Ham.*

After adding spinach and topping it with fresh tomatoes and pine nuts, which could stand up on its own as a self-respecting pasta dish, I came up with the name “combonara.” The resulting dish was lighter then normal carbonara, yet still hearty and satisfying.

* Traditional German Black Forest ham more closely resembled prosciutto then what is passed of as Black Forest Ham in the US. Check out recipetips.com to see pictures of American vs. German Black Forest ham.