LA DOLCI VITA – Italian dessert recipes from Luca Ciano for the food dept's Italian dessert feature (2024)

This month we collaborate once again, with our friend, Italian chef, Luca Ciano. Whilst, we may not have a vespa, ducati (like Luca!) or drive a fast car, we can all eat like Italians with these delightful, classic desserts. Make an expresso and take a seat in the food dept's cafe.

A little message from Luca:

"Dolci, I, likemost Italians love desserts, in my case it’s quite a scary story…if at the endof any meal I don’t have any dessert I fall into a small depression. It doesn’tmatter if I’m full or not, I must have something sweet at the end of any mealof the day. Desserts through out Italy vary quite a lot depending on the regionthat you’re in. So from North to South, with different tradition and differentlocal ingredients, comes different styles and flavoured desserts. Here are 4 ofmy favourite."
Ciao!
Luca Ciano

A great way toget tipsy without realizing it… The fun begins when you dip the biscuit intothe Vin Santo to soften the Cantucci, by the time you eat 2, 3, 4 of them, you’llbe smiling for no reason!

PREP 15min COOKING TIME20-25min SERVES 6

• 250g whole rawalmonds

• 3 free rangeeggs

• 1 free rangeegg yolk

• 370g castersugar

• 1 vanilla pod, halved and scraped

• 50g unsaltedbutter, room temperature

• 500g 00 flouror plain flour

• 1½ tablespoonsbaking powder

• 250ml Vin Santo

1. Toast the almonds in a preheated oven at 100C for 30 minutes.

2. Increase the oven to 170C fan forced.

3. In a bowl mix the eggs with sugar and vanilla, then add flour andbaking powder and finally add butter and almonds.

4. Continue to mix until the ingredients all combine together.

5. Roll the dough into 2 x 30cm long x 3cm wide x 1 cm high pieces,place it onto a tray and bake it for 20-25 minutes.

6. Cut the cooked dough into 1cm stripes and set aside to cool. Placestrips into the oven again and bake at 120C for a further 5 minutes.

7. Remove from oven and set aside to cool before serving. Serve with asmall glass of Vin Santo.

8. Dip the biscuit into the sweet wine and eat!!

TIP: make 1 day in advance so the biscuits becomes dry and hard

Cannoli with pistachio

Serves 6 Prep time 45min Cooking time 4-5min

Cannoli dough

• 250g 00 flour

• 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon of ground coffee

• 30g unsalted butter, room temperature

• 1/3 cup white wine vinegar

• 1 whole egg

• 1 litre frying oil

Filling

• 250g fresh ricotta cheese

• 50g caster sugar

• 100g candied fruit, roughly chopped

• 100g whole pistachios, finely chopped, to serve

• 100g icing sugar, to serve

Cannoli

1. Sift and mix flour, cocoa powder and ground coffee in a bowl.

2. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the butter,vinegar and egg. Using your hands gradually mix the wet ingredient around,bringing in the dry ingredients until you create a smooth dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest for 20 minutes in the fridge.

3. Roll the dough through a pasta machine until thin, 2mm or use arolling pin.

4. Cut with a round cutter into a round shape of 8-10 cm and wrap aroundthe special cannoli metal tubes.

5. Bring oil to 180C and deep fry for 4-5 min. Set aside to cool andrepeat.

6. Cannoli are now ready to be filled with ricotta filling.

Filling

1. Mix the ricotta with candied fruit until smooth and creamy.

2. Place the mix into a piping bag and fill the cannoli cases.

3. Dip both ends of the cannoli into the chopped pistachio to garnishand dust with icing sugar before serving.

TIP: Freeze any remaining dough for 3 months.

Crostata difrutta

Serves 6 Prep time 1hr, plus 2 hours to rest pastry Cook time 30min

Creama Pasticcera - Custard

• 500ml fresh milk

• 1 vanilla pod, seeds scraped

• zest of 1 lemon

• 4 free range egg yolks

• 50g plain flour

• 110g caster sugar

Pastry

• 200g caster sugar

• 200g unsalted butter

• 3 free range eggs

• 500g 00 flour

• zest of 1 lemon

• ½ punnet of strawberries, halved

• ½ punnet of blueberries

• ½ punnet of raspberries

• ½ mango, thinly sliced

Glaze

• ½ cup water

• 2 tablespoons caster sugar

• 1 gelatin leaf, soaked in cold water

• 1 vanilla pod, seeds scrapped

Creama Pasticcera - custard

1. In a heavy based saucepan bring milk to a simmer, with vanilla pod,seeds and lemon zest

2. Meanwhile in a large bowl mix eggs with flour and sugar, add a littlecold milk to help mixing if needed.

3. When milk is hot, almost boiling, add and mix a little at the timeinto the egg mix and stir to combine.

4. Return to the heat and cook for up to 5 minutes on a gentle heatconstantly stirring.

5. Allow cooling then cover and refrigerate.

Pastry

1. Cream the sugar and butter together, add flour, eggs and lemon zest,mix into a soft dough. Roll into a ball and wrap in cling film, rest in therefrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours (making it a day in advance is evenbetter).

2. Pre heat oven at 170C.

3. Roll the pastry to a ½ cm thickness to fit a 26-28cm wide and 1-1 ½cmhigh round flan pan.

4. Prick the pastry with a fork to make a few little holes and then bakefor 15-20 minutes till cooked and golden in color, remove from the oven andallow to cool.

5. To make the glaze, combine the sugar and water in a saucepan and heatuntil the sugar has dissolved. Squeeze the excess water from the gelatin leavesand add to the sugar syrup with the vanilla seeds. Stir until the gelatin hasdissolved. Allow to cool until thick and glossy.

6. Fill the pastry shell with Creama Pasticcera and the garnish withfruit, brush over the vanilla glaze and serve.

Recipes: Luca Ciano, Food prep: Sally Courtney.