# Pasta Prosciutto e Piselli: A Roman Classic Simplified

This creamy pasta dish brings together three simple ingredients that define Italian comfort food. Prosciutto cotto, the cooked ham staple of Roman kitchens, combines with fresh peas and cream to create a dish that tastes far more elaborate than its modest ingredient list suggests.

The recipe builds on the foundation of pasta e piselli, a centuries-old Roman preparation that pairs pasta with spring peas. Adding prosciutto cotto transforms it into something richer and more substantial. The ham's salty, gentle flavor works without overwhelming the delicate sweetness of the peas, while the cream binds everything into a silky sauce that coats each strand of pasta evenly.

What makes this dish work lies in technique as much as ingredients. The peas cook just until tender, maintaining their color and slight firmness. Prosciutto cotto, sliced thin and cut into strips, adds texture without the aggressive saltiness of raw prosciutto. The cream reduces slightly as the pasta finishes cooking, concentrating its flavor while the starch from the pasta water helps create a cohesive sauce that clings naturally rather than pooling at the plate's bottom.

This preparation represents Italian home cooking at its most honest. No exotic ingredients. No elaborate techniques. Just the understanding that quality ingredients treated simply produce genuine pleasure at the table. The dish appears across Rome's trattoorie and family kitchens as a weeknight meal that demands nothing beyond what most cooks keep stocked.

Serious Eats' approach emphasizes the straightforward nature of this preparation, trusting that when butter, ham, cream, and peas meet proper pasta, no further complexity improves the result. It's a reminder that the best Italian food often demands restraint rather than invention.