Today, my family and I honored, along with the Vatican, the brave 147 Swiss soldiers who bravely gave their lives for the Holy See during the sack of Rome in 1527.

We did so by cooking up the swearing-in day dinner menu in the Vatican Cookbook of the Pontifical Swiss guard.

The Vatican has been importing papal guards from Switzerland since 1527, to show their gratitude for the bravery they showed in sacrificing those 147 lives (all lost!) that enabled their Pope to escape unharmed. Being Swiss myself (my maternal grandmother was 100% Appenzeller Swiss!), I feel a special connection to this history–especially because I am now such a gatekeeper to so many Italian Family histories.

I cooked up the book’s beef tenderloin roast as the main dish:

Then I made the Swiss guard’s asparagus pasta with parmesan cream sauce–it was DIVINE! My kids devoured this entire bowl by evening’s end:

And then for dessert, the cookbook has a special 6th of May treat–a vanilla bean bavarese yoghurt-custard with strawberry coulis that tastes better than cheesecake! I am bummed that I didn’t have any cute dessert dishes to photograph it in; this silly little Pyrex serving bowl looks ridiculous, lol

It was a sumptuous meal, and during dinner I had a great time teaching my children about the heroism of the good people of our motherland, and their connection to our fratelli and sorelle in Italia!! 🙂