You may remember this command. It is considered to be one of the best movie lines of all time: “Leave the gun, take the cannoli.”
Those words from “The Godfather” are spoken in a tragic scene that nevertheless generates laughter for its irony. Pauli, Don Vito Carleone’s bodyguard, had mysteriously called in sick on the day of a botched assassination of Vito. Two of Carleone’s sons, Michael and Sonny, quickly targeted Pauli as a traitor and wanted revenge. Pauli is detained and then driven to a desolate waterfront site. Along the way, Clemenza, the Corleone family’s head capo, needs to stop to deal with nature, if you know what I mean., While that is happening another gang member, Rocco, fatally shoots Pauli in the back of his head. As the men leave the murder vehicle, Clemenza yells the memorable order to Rocco, which is dutifully obeyed. Rocco grabs the bakery’s box from the car as though nothing at that moment is more important than the cannolis.
In this the week of St. Joseph’s Day the cannoli comes to mind, as it does for me practically every week. Sicilian in origin, the confection was one of the delicacies that came with the Italian immigration. Sicilians are skilled bakers and their confections are a reflection of their culture. A tubular shell, made with deep fried pastry dough is stuffed with classic, slightly sweet, ricotta cheese mixed with other ingredients, such as chocolate chips, orange zest and and chopped pistachios. Sometimes it is topped with powdered sugar. The result is a pastry that is sweet, crunchy and, because of its tubular shape and ricotta stuffing, unlike anything else.
Among the Sicilian immigrates who came to New Orleans was a young man named Angelo Brocato. He was from Cefalu, a beach town in a warm Mediterranean climate where there would be high demand for frigid gelato. Brocato would work in a Palermo bakery where cookies are in the oven and cannolis are assembled,
In New Orleans, he established a shop where ice cream and cookies were made on premises and, best of all, cannolis. New Orleanians are lucky that the locally-made cannoli may be the best in the world, even better than those made in Palermo, the Sicilian capitol. What makes the difference is the ricotta. At Brocato’s the cheese stuffing is chocolate flavored at one end, and vanilla at the other. Most places in Sicily tend to just have white ricotta. The cannoli is still good but missing that extra touch.
As for the other baked items, Italian cookies tend to be dryer than other types. There is a reason: the Sicilian tradition of dipping pastries into coffee or wine. Count on it, countries that make moist cookies tend to do less dunking.
I cannot imagine any of the passengers who were with Pauli having much of a desire for cannolis at the end of their ride, but that would be one of the few circumstances.
As I am writing this it is near the end of the workday. Lord I wish I had a cannoli right now, and a cappuccino to dunk it in. A scoop of gelato would be welcomed too.
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