-Week 4- |
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CANNOLI IN SICILIA
Sicily. The name itself evokes feelings of nostalgia, intrigue and, most emphatically, a sudden craving for cannoli! For most Italian-Americans, their ancestry can be traced back to this southernmost island of Italy. It is from here that grandparents and great-grandparents immigrated to the U.S. Along with valuables and belongings, they brought with them something far more valuable than jewelery or money: their traditions. With those traditions came the recipes that represent the resilience and dedication of family.
Our travels brought us from Perugia, in the beautiful countryside of Umbria, far south to Palermo, Sicily. The moment the train pulled into the station, we knew we had one pressing matter at hand: to find a true Italian cannolo. With our mission in mind, we walked through the main part of town to a small, yet charming, cafe called "Masai". It was here that our taste buds were awakened. From first glance, the thing was nothing short of beautiful. From the perfectly-browned shell to the calorie-filled ricotta mixture to the pure-white powdered sugar that so gracefully fell atop the shell to the gorgeous, shining, candied orange peel to finish it all off, this cannolo was a masterpiece of culinary perfection. At first bite, I knew I should be nowhere else. The shell was thicker than expected yet still flaky. The filling (oh, the filling) was rich and creamy, to say the least. The ricotta seemed so rich that it had to have been mixed with something else...I am suggesting Locatelli...really. It had this salty quality that was almost masked by the sweet richness of the filling but still permeated on the palate in a very good way. When I return, we will definitely attempt to replicate this recipe.
It would be a travesty to have visited Sicily and had only a single cannolo. To avoid this negativity we had another...and then another. The last two were from the very same place. Yes, they were that good. This particular cafe was located in a main piazza of Palermo and boasted cannoli, filled-to-order. Once the cannoli-filler called out our order, we reached our hands to receive the gifts. A single cherry decorated this version. Unlike the first, this version had tiny chunks of chocolate suspended in the wonderfully rich ricotta. We enjoyed our cannoli in front of an amazing cathedral under a blue sky with, of course, pigeons. Italian pigeons are the most rotund, fearless, and disgusting of any street-bird I have encountered - but that is an entirely different story.
Needless to say, there will be many Cortina's cannoli consumed upon my return...
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