Carbonara purists will tell you it needs guanciale. They're not wrong about the original, but they're wrong that there's only one good version.

Here the pork is replaced with asparagus gently cooked in olive oil, and the oil it leaves behind does what the pork fat would have done: carries flavour into the eggs.

The only real skill is heat control. Too hot and you get scrambled egg on spaghetti. Take it off the flame, keep it moving, and the eggs thicken into a sauce instead.

Method

1. 1

   Make the carbonara base

   Crack 1 whole egg and 2 yolks into a mixing bowl. Add the parmesan and a generous amount of cracked black pepper, and whisk until smooth and well combined. Set aside.

2. 2

   Prepare the asparagus

   Trim the woody ends. Blanch in a pot of boiling salted water for 1 minute only, then straight into iced water to stop the cooking and keep the colour. Drain well and chop into small pieces.

3. 3

   Infuse the oil

   In a wide pan over low heat, add a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Add the asparagus and cook gently for 5 minutes, until it softens and flavours the oil. Season lightly with salt. Tip the asparagus and all its oil into the egg mixture and stir well.

   Keep the pan - you'll need it again.

4. 4

   Cook the spaghetti

   Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil, add the spaghetti and stir gently. Cook for about 3 minutes, until it floats and is al dente: tender, with a slight bite.

5. 5

   Make the sauce

   Lift the spaghetti straight from the water into the warm pan, set over the lowest possible heat. Add one spoonful of pasta water, then pour in the asparagus and egg mixture. Start tossing immediately, continuously and confidently. Keep it moving and the eggs won't scramble.

   The residual heat and pasta water turn it into a silky, glossy sauce that coats every strand. If it needs loosening, add another small spoonful of pasta water.

6. 6

   Finish and plate

   Twirl the pasta into a warm bowl and spoon over any sauce left in the pan. Finish with a light grating of lemon zest and a drizzle of good olive oil. Serve straight away, while it's glossy.

The kit

Low heat that's actually low

Eggs scramble where the pan runs hot, and a thin pan has hot spots right where the flame hits. Tri-ply is aluminium sandwiched between steel, which spreads the heat across the whole base, so the lowest setting on your hob is genuinely low everywhere. That's the difference between carbonara and scrambled eggs. The Season Tri-Ply Sauté Pan is wide enough to toss 250g of pasta without losing half of it.

Shop the Tri-Ply Sauté Pan

Created by Season with Francesca, our specialist pasta tutor. The cooking you see is real; the presenter is an AI avatar we used to stitch the lessons together.