Cannoli

I just spent a few days with my very kind and generous friend Mario in his home town of Catania, Sicily.  He took us to his favourite pasticceria, Savia in the centre of Catania.  They make wonderful arancine – fried balls of filled rice, the Catanian version has aubergine, tomato and cheese filling.  And they make some of the best cannoli in the world (as shown above).  Their pastry seems to be less well-cooked than other producers/areas – and that seems to go better with the ricotta, which is also less sweetened than in other versions.  They are garnished with chopped pistacchio nuts instead of candied orange in the Palermo tradition.

More photos of the trip are here.