Sicily Dishes

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© C. M.

The ancient Greeks hung around the island for five centuries and left behind their temples and amphitheaters, the unruly Normans stayed long enough to deposit the gene for red hair, and the enterprising Arabs took over for two hundred years and gave all of Sicily a giant sweet tooth.

If there weren't plenty of other reasons to visit this exotic island at the toe of the boot, the desserts alone would do.

Rich, colorful, complex, Sicilian desserts are predominantly the legacy of Saracen (Arab) occupation which introduced sugarcane, candied fruits, pistachios, citrus, and cinnamon into the pastry larder. Before tiramisu kicked them down a notch, cannoli were the single most requested dessert item in Italian restaurants in the United States.

Translating to the work "pipes" in Italian, cannoli are pastry shells formed on metal tubes and fried to a golden crispiness before being filled, most typically, with ricotta cream and studded with chocolate chips or candied fruits.

A crude version with plain sheep's milk ricotta was recorded as far back as pre-Christian times. But it was the tenth century Arab conquerers who nudged this recipe closer to its modern form with the addition of sugar, candied fruits and cinnamon.

Six hundred years later the Spaniards contributed to the mix with chocolate brought back from their conquest of the Aztecs, completing a work centuries in the making.

By the way, no self-respecting Sicilian would accept a pre-filled connolo (singular of cannoli) since it renders the pastry shell soggy. It's cannolo al momento - filled on the spot - or nothing!

Cassata, the revered queen of Sicilian desserts, began in the ninth century as a humble cake of flour and eggs and evolved into a confection worthy of the rococo excess and sensuality of Sicily under Bourbon rule.

Tantalizing even by its exhaustive list of ingredients, cassata is created from Pan de Spagna (sponge cake), orange flower water, sweet liqueur such as Maraschino, sweetened ricotta, pistachios, cinnamon, candied fruits, apricot preserves chocolate and then ornately decorated with marzipan, candied citron and sugar icing fashioned into bows, curls or rosettes.

The name cassata comes from the arabic 'q'as at, meaning box and referring to the round pan with sloping sides in which it's generally made. The official cake of Easter, its Muslim past is undisputed.