Deep Dive No. 3: Sicilian Desserts
so much cannoli
It’s only fitting that most of our beloved Italian desserts originated in Sicily. Cannoli— that was the Sicilians. Granita—the Sicilians. Cassata, cassatelle, almond biscotti, zbaglione—all thanks to the Sicilians. Over the past two weeks, I’ve discovered firsthand that two food groups reign supreme on the small Italian island: fish and desserts.
I don’t think I went a single day without eating anchovies and there were many meals where 3-4 courses in a row were from the sea. As someone who prefers seafood to all other meats, I never thought that I would reach a day when I would tire of fish, but friends, I’m here to tell you that around day 12 of my trip I had to tap out. Because Sicily is an island, seafood is just-caught fresh and endlessly accessible. We ate at a restaurant in a market one afternoon where our waiter brought over a platter of assorted whole, raw fish and then pointed to a man working a large flat-top grill across the street. We weren’t exactly certain what we were getting ourselves into, but nodded a “tutto buono” and off he went. Twenty minutes later, the platter of fish returned, perfectly charred with hunks of lemon tucked between them. A perfect picture of Sicily.
Sicilians also love their sweets. As a pastry chef and a Sicilian-American, this makes me very proud. For breakfast, there is brioche stuffed with granita, croissants, and yeasted doughs filled with nutella and creams. Then there are bakeries with glass cases lined with cassatelle (little moon-shaped pockets of dough filled with ricotta), genovese, and biscotti. Of course, because we’re in Italy, there is afternoon gelato and post-dinner cannoli and cassata. I may have been jittery running on an A.M diet of cappuccino and sugar, but I was happy.
As we ate our way through the streets of Palermo, Trapani, Marsala, Agrigento, and Licata, I jotted notes down and started planning how I would re-create these treats upon my return home. So guess what, that’s what we’re doing this month! This month’s bonus recipes will be all Sicilian-inspired desserts all the time (plus some of my travel photos and notes because I can’t resist sharing it all with you). I can’t wait!
a little history
An interesting tidbit: Palermo is widely considered to be the most-conquered city in the world. Because of its prime location on the Mediterranean, throughout history, everyone wanted a piece (and at one point or another, almost everyone got it). At a dinner one night, our host counted off all of the countries who have occupied Sicily, let’s see if I can make him proud: Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, French, Spanish, and British. All of those different cultures have left distinct imprints that you can see and taste throughout the island.
Many Sicilian sweets come from the time of Arab rule in Sicily. In fact, many of the quintessential Sicilian foods can be traced back to the Muslim rule from the mid 800s-early 1000s AD—bringing durum wheat (pasta), rice, citrus, spices, and of course, sugarcane.
(P.S. Take a few minutes and read this really great deep dive into the Arab roots of Sicily’s cuisine from Saveur Magazine.)
In each dessert you can find imprints of the region itself. From the abundance of fresh sheep’s milk ricotta to smatterings of pistachios, each dessert introduces you to the land of Sicily, bite by bite.
a run-down of Sicilian desserts I ate:
Here’s a quick who’s who of some of the best and most well-known Sicilian desserts I sampled during my time on the island.
cannoli:
I think it’s against the rules to create a collection of Sicilian desserts with anything besides cannoli at the top of the list. A hand-kneaded dough is rolled very thinly, wrapped around a cylinder and fried until bubbly. It’s filled with the freshest ricotta you can find, whipped with the faintest trace of sugar and then rolled in bright green pistachios. I learned on this trip that the quality of a cannoli comes down to the quality of the ricotta. Sicily has an abundance of sheep’s milk ricotta (and pecorino), naturally sweet like fresh cream, and it needs very little doctoring to create a delicious filling. The smallest amount of sugar brings out a little sweetness, while allowing the flavor of the cheese to shine on it’s own. Should we start making our own ricotta at home??
cassata:
Before visiting Sicily, I knew of the famed cassata cake but if I’m honest, I didn’t have much interest in trying it. Cassata is a sponge cake, filled with fruit syrups/juices, and of course, ricotta. It’s often covered in a bright green marzipan coating. Since I’m not marzipan’s number one fan, I didn’t make much of an effort to hunt down a slice, but lucky for us, we snagged a piece off of the dessert menu at a wine bar in Trapani. The waiter told us that the marzipan was much too sweet, so they completely left it out, resulting in a really nice, refined sponge cake filled with ricotta and topped with candied oranges. I was pleasantly surprised.
cassatelle:
Another Trapanese dessert, we had cassatelle multiple times on our trip. A sweetened pastry dough shaped into a half-moon, filled with you guessed it—ricotta, and a little dab of chocolate, and then dusted with powdered sugar. They look almost like empanadas or hand-pies, and we had them cold from bakery cases and warm, straight from the oven at restaurants. All were delicious.
genovese:
When we arrived at our AirBnB in Trapani, our adorable little host Pino, greeted us with a list of things we should do/see/eat during our stay. At the very top of the list was to visit Erice, a historic village on the top of a mountain about 15 minutes away from the city center of Trapani. He said that when we got there, we should go to Pasticceria Maria Grammatico and order “genovese caldo” or hot genovese. So we listened. Genovese are very similar to cassatelle in that they too are stuffed pockets of dough. Originating at Maria Grammatico’s bakery, the genovese crust is closer to that of a shortbread cookie and they were filled with a cream rather than just ricotta. Pino was right, and served warm with cappuccino, they were perfect.
gelato & granita
You can’t go to Italy and not eat gelato. While granita, especially citrus granita, is endlessly popular on the island during the hot summer months, most gelatarias had both gelato and granita and you could mix and match. We made an effort to have gelato as much as possible during our stay and I have no regrets. There were endless flavors—almond, caramel, coffee, every fruit you can imagine, baccio (a hazelnut and chocolate concoction), and so many more. My favorite combination was caramel gelato with mandarin granita and you can bet that there will be some sort of caramel/citrus fusion recipes coming your way in the future.
a few other trip highlights
Our first morning in Palermo, we found a cafe near our AirBnB called Cioccolateria Lorenzo. Thanks to a bit of jet lag, we’d slept in that morning and had a very late breakfast, even by Italian standards. There was only one pain au chocolate left when we arrived so we started our day at noon with tiramisu for breakfast, which turned out to be a truly excellent way to wake up.
Possibly one of my favorite stops on our trip was at Bio Fattoria Augustali Farm and Winery. Since it was off season, we were the only guests and the owner Finella, spent the entire afternoon showing us the grounds, introducing us to the winemaker (aka her husband), and picnic-ing with us on the grounds. It was a beautiful day and the wine, food, and company were all excellent.
I found briolata in Sicily. If you’ve been around here for a while, you know that briolata (or ‘mbriulata in Italian) is a family heirloom in our family. Originating in Agrigento, the region where my family is from, these Sicilian style breads can be found in bakeries all around the city. The morning we left Agrigento, we picked up a few from the bakery down the street filled with ham and olives and as I ate them while driving through the Sicilian countryside, I couldn’t help but think that my great grandparents would have been proud.
Stay tuned for a few brand new, Sicilian inspired dessert recipes making their way to your inboxes this month!
Heading to Siracusa in Sicily on Saturday. I can't wait to indulge in everything I love about Sicily – from savoury dishes to desserts!
Any recipes?