Welcome to HowToCookThat: Exploring Sicily and Creating Cannoli with Chef Stefano
As we arrived in Sicily, Italy, our travel series took an exciting turn. While Dave, Jedd, and James explored the breathtaking sights of this beautiful island, Matt and I embarked on a culinary adventure to discover the origins of cannoli, one of my favorite sweet treats. We headed up the hill to Taormina, where cannoli is believed to have originated, and met with local chef Stefano, who kindly shared his expertise on how to make these delicious Sicilian pastries from scratch.
Chef Stefano's first lesson was about preparing the dough, which is crucial for creating authentic cannoli. He began by tipping flour onto a clean surface, making a well in the center, and then adding egg into the center, similar to lava flowing out of a volcano. The mixture was then combined with cinnamon and sugar, and Matt and I were instructed not to use a mixer to avoid over-mixing the dough, which would result in no bubbles on the outside of the cannoli when fried.
The next step involved adding melted butter and red wine (or masala) to the mixture, which helped to create a smooth and even dough. We kneaded our dough for several minutes until it became smooth and pliable, and then pressed and folded it repeatedly until it was evenly distributed. Chef Stefano emphasized the importance of resting the dough overnight to ensure that it would have bubbles on the outside when fried.
As we worked with the dough, I couldn't help but think about the secrets behind chef Stefano's success in making hundreds of cannoli every day. He shared with us that he uses scraps from the semolina flour to create small biscuits for his staff, which are infused with hot Nutella and make a delicious treat. This process not only showcases chef Stefano's creativity but also highlights the importance of reducing food waste.
Now, let's move on to creating our own cannoli fillings! Chef Stefano taught us how to make two different fillings: one using egg yolks and another using ricotta cheese. The first filling was made by whisking together egg yolks with a mixture of oil and sugar, then adding candied fruits and mixing them through. This filling is creamy and sweet, with the addition of candied fruits adding a delightful texture.
For the second filling, we simply whisked together ricotta cheese with sugar, followed by the addition of candied fruits and nuts. This filling was lighter and airier than the first one, providing a nice contrast to the richness of the cannoli shells. Chef Stefano reminded us that it's essential to taste our fillings as we go along to ensure they're balanced and delicious.
Now that we had our fillings ready, it was time to assemble our cannoli. We rolled out the rested dough on semolina flour, cut out circles, and rolled them thinner until we could see the silhouette of our fingers through. Then, we wrapped each circle around a cannoli tube, sealed the join using egg, and fried them in oil.
As we cooked our cannoli, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement. The aroma of frying pastry filled the air, and I knew that these delicious Sicilian pastries were going to be absolutely divine. Once they were done, we let them cool off before sliding the tube out of the middle and filling them with our freshly made ricotta or egg yolk fillings.
The result was nothing short of breathtaking! Our cannoli shells were crispy on the outside and airy on the inside, providing a perfect vessel for our delicious fillings. We couldn't wait to share these treats with everyone and enjoy their crunchy goodness within three hours of filling them, as chef Stefano reminded us.
In conclusion, making cannoli from scratch was an incredible experience that not only taught me about Sicilian cuisine but also showed me the importance of patience, practice, and creativity in cooking. I want to thank chef Stefano for sharing his expertise with us, and I hope you enjoy this article as much as we did exploring the beautiful island of Sicily and learning how to create these delicious cannoli pastries.
"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enWelcome to HowToCookThat I'm AnnReardon and week 2 of our travel series ...and we have arrived at Sicily in Italy 🇮🇹While Dave, Jedd and James explored thesights, Matt and I went on an hour'sdrive up the hill to Taorimina which iswhere cannoli comes from. Cannoli isactually one of my favorite sweet treatsbut only when it's nice and fresh andcrunchy. If it's soggy it is not very nice.So we had a local chef Stefano teach ushow to make it properly at home. He makeshundreds of these every day for therestaurant. The first thing you need todo is tip the flour on to the counter, makea well in the centre or as chefStefano said 'make a volcano' andthen add the egg into the center likethe lava and I'll put all these recipequantities on the howtocookthat.netwebsite for you and there's a link tothat below. Then add the cinnamon and thesugar. Now mix that together using yourhands he was very specific about notusing a mixer to do this dough becauseyou might over mix it which will mean itwon't have any bubbles on the cannoliwhen it's cooked. Keep rubbing ittogether and then add in the slightlymelted butter and again use your handsto mix it in until it's evenlydistributed. Add in a little red wine ata time to moisten it so that it can forma dough. Traditionally you'd use masalafor this but red wine works just as wellif you can't get hold of masala. Keeppressing and folding and knead yourdough for a few minutes until it'ssmooth and even. We got to try so manydesserts while we were traveling throughItaly like gelato of course, Cassata,Torrone which we call nougat here ...sfogliatella which I've never had before butthe layers in that were amazing and ofcourse Tiramisu. I feel like Australiadoesn't have dessert recipe inventionsof our own that we can claim ... we havethings like Pavlova and evenLamingtons but both of those have nowbeen claimed byNew Zealand, they said they made them bothfirst! Australia did invent lawnmowersand Wi-Fi ... Wi-Fi is pretty important topeople all over the world so that's abig one. For sweet food though we can layclaim to Tim Tams and that's a good onethat's a very popular chocolate biscuithere which I think most of you should beable to get all around the world now andyou could have it as a dessert if youhave it as a Tim Tam Slam. If you haven'thad a Tim Tam Slam before what you do isbite off the opposite corners of the TimTam and then use it like a straw for ahot drink like hot chocolate or coffeeor you can use cold drink but I find itwork it's better with hot ... and quicklyslam it in your mouth before it dropsinto your drink!The whole thing just liquifies. It does, that's a good way to describe it.It's like a liquid Tim Tam, the whole thing justbecomes melted in your mouth. Meltedchocolate soft biscuit the meltedfilling. It just implodes, you have toshove it in fast hence the name theTim Tam Slam. Matthew can do a doubleTim Tam slam where he has two TimTams and slams them both of once, I can'tdo that. I'd love to see if any of youcan do a triple slab but if you haven'ttried it before try it with one Tim Tamfirst it might be a bit much otherwise.Video it upload it and tag it share theslam so I'll be able to see it. Back toour cannoli once your dough looks evenyou want to wrap it and put that in thefridge overnight. Again chef Stefanoinsisted that if you don't rest yourdough you won't have bubbles on theoutside of your cannoli when you fry itand bubbles are a sign of good cannoli.We're gonna make two different fillingsand the first one you need five eggyolks and you mix with that a little bitof milk and 140 grams ofsugar and whisk that together reallywell. Add a little bit of grated limerind ... Matty's doing a great job there.And the rind of a whole orange.Then push a hole in the orange andsqueeze it really hard to get most ofthe juice out then whisk through thesemolina flour a little at a time untilit's all incorporated. Put the rest ofthe milk in a frying pan on medium heatuntil it just starts to boil then pourin the egg yolk mixture into the centerand wait until you see bubbles again andthen mix it and keep stirring it don'tstop stirring it until it's thick andeven all the way through. You can tasteit to check if it's good which it was,very good 😁 then tip that into a bowl andcool it in the fridge. For the secondfilling you just whisk together ricottaand sugar and then add in candied fruitsand mix them through. Now back to ourcannoli ...take your rested cannoli dough and rollit out on some semolina flour you wantit fairly thin and then cut out a circleof the dough and roll it even thinner.Turn it as you roll it so you try andkeep it fairly circular. Keep rollinguntil it's thin enough that you can seethe silhouette of your fingers throughthe dough. Then wrap the dough around acannoli tube and seal it at the joinusing a little bit of egg then you justneed to fry them in oil. If you're usingmetal cannoli tubes they're going tosink to the bottom so you need to holdthem off the bottom so that they don'tburn just using your drainer and give ita little bit of a wriggle as they cook.once they're ready make sure you tip itbefore you take it off the pan to letthe oil that's inside the tubes drainout otherwise you're going to get oileverywhereand then just put that on some papertowel to drain off the excess oil. Seehow the cannoli shells have bubbles allover them as I said that is apparentlythe sign of a good cannoli. Wait for themto cool off and then just slide the tubeout of the middle. Check the inside tomake sure it's cooked all the waythrough if not you can just fry them fora couple more seconds but these oneslook good.You can use a spoon to fill them but itis much easier with a piping bag thendip each end and pistachio nuts oralmonds or chocolate chips or whateveryou like reallyand then you just serve them on a plateand it's important that you eat themwithin three hours of filling thembecause otherwise they go soggy andthey're not good. You want that cannolito be crunchy. So you can store theshells in an airtight container and fillthem just before serving.What did you think of that Matt. That was a goodclass he was very nice. He was lovely.it was so amazing to make it with someone who makesa hundred of these every day there teaching you and telling you all the secrets.Especially the secret that they use the scraps to make ... little biscuits for the staffbecause you can't re-roll it because it then has amixture of the semolina flour so they pour hot Nutella over the top and makelittle biscuits.Tastes really good. Hmm tastes amazing.Subscribe to How To Cook That and turnon that notification bell so you knowwhen we upload a new video. Click here towatch the first week of our trip andhere for more videos. Make it a greatweek and I'll see you on Friday 💕\n"
