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Chef Francesco is from Sardinia, a beautiful island in the South of Italy. He has a background in cooking, having spent 7 years as a Chef in Italy, Australia and London. He is now a Senior Teaching Chef for some of the top cookery schools in London.

For Chef Francesco, being Italian, Italian cuisine is his passion. He has a developed, rustic Italian cooking style based on memories from his childhood – cooking with his Nonna, working on the farm and fishing with his Granddad.

All of Chef Francesco’s recipes are original, traditional and based on the best ingredients.

Italian food is one of the most beloved cuisines in the world. But, you don't need to go out to eat or travel to Italy to eat the real deal anymore. Learn how to make the most authentic, rustic Italian food in your home with this masterclass from Italian chef, Francesco Mattana.

In this episode we're learning how to make cannoli from Sicily. Originally the cannoli were prepared only in the period of carnival, but then over time they became so famous all over the world, that they are now prepared for any special occasion.

It looks like a hard dessert to make but actually it’s very simple to make at home.

Ingredients

  • 250g 00 flour

  • 1 tbsp of cinnamon and cacao
  • Pinch of salt
  • 30g of sugar
  • 30g of lard or butter
  • 1 egg white (yolk for sealing)
  • 40ml marsala wine
  • 20ml white wine vinegar
  • 1.5L of vegetable oil (for deep-frying)
  • For the filling: 700g of ricotta
  • 100g of powdered sugar
  • Orange zest and lemon zest
  • Vanilla extract

Method

  1. For the dough: In a bowl, add all your dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, cacao, salt and sugar) and mix.

  2. Cut the butter or lard into small pieces and mix in with your dry ingredients.
  3. Add the egg white, marsala and white wine vinegar to the butter and dry ingredients and mix together.
  4. Knead the dough with your hand inside the bowl until you have a nice smooth dough.
  5. Rest the dough for half an hour in the fridge.
  6. Roll out your dough with a pasta machine* or with a rolling pin until it is 2mm thick (when you use the pasta machine go until n 1,2, the thinner they are, the crispier they will be!)
  7. Cut the dough with a round cutter.
  8. Wind the dough around the cannoli tube to create a cylinder shape.
  9. Seal the dough with a touch of water so that the two sides of the cylinder stick together.
  10. Heat the oil in a saucepan until it reaches 180°C.
  11. Using metal tongs, gently drop the cannoli dough into the oil, 3 at a time.
  12. When the dough has turned golden brown (normally after a minute or so), using the tongs, remove the cooked dough from the oil and place it on greaseproof paper or kitchen paper to drain the excess oil.
  13. Once all your cannoli are cooked, leave them to cool.
  14. Once you are ready to serve them, fill the shapes with your choice of filling.
  15. For the filling: Sieve the ricotta so that it is nice and smooth.
  16. Add the sugar, the orange zest, the lemon zest and the vanilla extract and beat the mixture until all the ingredients are combined and the mixture is smooth.
  17. Fill your cannoli only when you are about to serve them, if not your dough will become wet.
  18. Add crushed pistachios and chocolate drops to decorate.

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