Recipe

Europe🇻🇦 Vatican CityVatican City
Fettuccine alla Papalina
Roman (Vatican) · medium · serves 4
prep 15 min · cook 20 min
~605 cal · 46g protein · 40g carbs · 29g fat (estimated, per serving)
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Fettuccine in a creamy egg sauce with prosciutto and peas
🇻🇦 Vatican City
Fettuccine alla Papalina — "the little pope's" fettuccine — was created in Rome for Cardinal Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, as a more delicate, aristocratic answer to carbonara. Silky ribbons are bound with egg, Parmesan, sweet prosciutto, and a little onion and butter, a dish that keeps papal Rome's culinary refinement.
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Ingredients
Serves 4
1 lb fresh egg fettuccine
6 oz prosciutto, chopped
3 eggs (for the sauce)
1 cup + 3 tbsp Parmesan and butter
1/2 onion
3/4 cup peas
Instructions
1
Soften the onion in the butter (or plant butter), add the prosciutto (or mushrooms) and peas, and warm through.
2
Beat the eggs (or blended tofu) with the Parmesan (or nutritional yeast) and a little pasta water.
3
Cook the fettuccine until just done and drain, saving some water.
4
Off the heat, toss the hot pasta with the ham mixture, then the egg-cheese sauce, until silky (never let it scramble).
5
Loosen with pasta water and serve at once with extra Parmesan.
Roman / Vatican tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
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Vatican City. A Roman enclave keeping papal culinary traditions.
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Vatican City. A Roman enclave whose kitchen keeps papal traditions.
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Europe. Village recipes guarded for generations.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
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Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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