Last summer I visited Sicily for the first time – and what a feast for the senses that was! The markets were packed with vendors noisily calling out their wares; the freshly squeezed Sicilian lemon juice was mouth puckeringly tart; the red peppers were intensely re that they looked Photoshopped; and for the first time in my life, fresh cannoli with their contrast of crispy pastry exterior and yielding sweet mascarpone interior made sense to me. Freshly made and filled before your eyes, they are as far as you can get from the prefilled and almost always disappointing examples I have had in London. The best place in Palermo to have them is at the Santa Caterina convent, where the ancient tradition of making and selling biscuits, cakes and jams lives on, often using the old recipes handed down through cohorts of nuns. It was in this place of worship, piety and quiet contemplation that I came across tette de vergine – or literally breasts of the virgin. No, I am not making this up! Click here for a full portion
