Cannoli

The day before making the cannoli, put the ricotta in a sieve over a bowl to drain off any excess liquid.

Put the flour in a large bowl and sift in the cocoa. Add the sugar, cinnamon and salt and mix until fully combined. Dice the lard and add it to the flour mixture, then work the mixture by pinching the pieces of lard with the tips of your fingers to break them into very small lumps, fully coated in flour. Keep working the mixture quickly until the lard is finely dispersed into the flour and no more clumps are visible.

Beat the egg in a small bowl and add 30g to the flour mixture. Reserve the rest for sealing the shells later. Add the marsala, orange zest and vinegar and work it in the bowl with your hands. Once all the liquids have been absorbed, turn it onto the worktop and knead it until all the flour has been incorporated into a smooth and homogenous dough. The mixture is quite dry, and it requires vigorous kneading for a few minutes before all dry ingredients are incorporated. This will create a rather elastic dough which will need resting before being rolled thin. Wrap the dough and chill it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, or a few hours if possible.

Meanwhile, make the filling. If you’re using artisanal sheep’s milk ricotta, it needs to be pushed through a fine sieve with the back of a spoon (you can skip this if using regular ricotta from the supermarket). Put the ricotta in a large bowl and whisk it with an electric whisk until creamy. Add the sugar, vanilla, orange zest and whisk again to combine, then fold in the candied peels. Transfer the cream to the piping bag, then seal and store in the fridge until needed.

Once rested, remove the dough from the fridge and divide it into 4 equal pieces. Flatten a piece with your fingers, then pass it through the rollers of a pasta machine on the widest setting. Fold the pastry in half, turn it 90 degrees and pass it through the machine on the same setting. Repeat the folding and rolling at least 3 more times. You will notice that throughout this process the appearance and texture of the dough will change significantly; it will look finer and smoother at each passage. Repeat with the remaining pieces of pastry.

Now start laminating the pastry to the required thickness. Reduce the gap in the pasta maker rollers by one step and pass the pastry through them once more. Work progressively by reducing the gap and rolling the pastry until it is no more than 1mm thick. This is usually the thinnest setting on the pasta maker.

Use the pastry cutter to cut out 12 discs of dough – 3 from each strip. You can also cut the pastry into 12cm squares instead if you don’t have a round cutter. Wrap each disc around a cannoli mould, sealing the overlapping edges together with a dab of the leftover beaten egg. Pinch the dough firmly against the moulds with your thumbs to seal the shells closed. Do not wrap the dough around the moulds too tightly but leave enough room to swell while frying. If the dough is to tightly wrapped around the moulds, the shells are more likely to tear open in the fryer.

Bring a deep pan of oil (no more than two thirds full) to 180°C. Line a cooling rack with 2 layers of kitchen paper and put it next to the pan.

Working in batches, fry each shell for no more than 1 minute, turning it over frequently with tongs to make sure it cooks evenly. Drain on kitchen paper and leave until cool enough to handle.

When ready to serve, put the pistachios in a small bowl. Pipe the cream into both ends of the cannoli, making sure they are completely filled. Dip each end in the pistachios to coat the cream fully, then arrange on a serving plate and lightly dust with icing sugar.