A good carbonara is a very fine thing, and something we’ve done many, many times over the years; indeed one of the first things we ever cooked together. This is a different take to our usual, a vegetarian version with no cream (which a classic carbonara shouldn’t have anyway), and plenty of lovely vegetable flavours. The smoky paprika and smoked salt add a lovely dimension to the rich, luxurious sauce and pasta and the sweet, crunchy veggies, and a good handful of your favourite salad leaves on the side round it all out beautifully. You’ll need a big saucepan for the pasta, and a big frying pan for finishing it off

1 dstpn extra virgin olive oil

3 tspns smoked paprika

400g swede, peeled and cut into 0.5cm x 3cm batons

3 eggs

75g coarsely grated parmesan

250g spaghetti (we’ve made it with gluten free spaghetti and it worked an absolute treat)

120g peas, defrosted if frozen

Plenty of black pepper, salt and smoked salt

Salad leaves and chopped parsley to serve

• Preheat your oven to 200C

• Mix the paprika with half a teaspoon of salt and a dessertspoon of olive oil. Put the swede batons in a bowl, add the spicy oil and mix well. Leave for 10 minutes

• Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a bowl, whisk with a fork, season well with black pepper, then stir the parmesan in. Set aside

• Put the swede batons onto a baking tray, making sure they’re just one baton deep, put in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Set aside

• Get a large pan of water boiling, season with a teaspoon of smoked salt, and cook the spaghetti as per the packet’s instructions

• A minute before the spaghetti is ready, get your frying pan medium hot, don’t add any oil, then add the peas, tossing them a little. Then add the swede pieces and toss a little more. When the spaghetti is ready, turn the heat off under the frying pan, then use a tongs to lift it out of the boiling water and into the frying pan, along with a little of the wate, tossing well. Then, making sure the pan is making no hissing noises at all (if it’s too hot, it can scramble the eggs), quickly stir in the egg and cheese mix. The mix will emulsify with the pasta water, and make a glossy sauce

• Serve immediately scattered with parsley, with the salad leaves alongside