Weekend Cooking: In Search of Sfogliatelle

For all that I talked a couple of days ago about starting to eat healthily and try to lose some weight (again), today I am posting about sfogliatelle - ricotta filled pastry shells - that originate from the south of Italy.

I don't remember hearing about sfogliatelle before a couple of months ago, but I have been watching a number of cooking series about baking and/or Italian cooking and it has come up a few times. I know I saw it in Paul Hollywood's City Bakes series, and I think one of Rick Stein's series. Actually, Rick Stein is to blame for a couple of cravings at the moment. The other day I was watching a show where he does a long weekend in Vienna and it showed wiener schnitzel and oh my goodness I have been thinking abut that ever since. Maybe I need to stop watching these shows, but I do like living vicariously through them.

Anyway, back to sfogliatelle.

Now, I am determined that I want, no, make that NEED to try one of these Italian treats. Luckily for me there is a famous Melbourne cake shop called Brunetti's that makes them so it was always just a question of time before I would actually try one. And try one I did. Actually, technically, I think I tried two and something very similar that I can't remember the name of.  Did I like them? I was surprised that they were pretty small. In theory, you could probably shove a whole one in your mouth, but I was a bit more ladylike and ate them in two bites. The crunch on the pasty was a-maz-ing, and the filling was very nice. Having said that, the one that I can't remember the name of was probably a bit more to my taste. All the delicious crunch but instead of being filled with ricotta it was topped with a custard like blob and a piece of cherry. I would be happy to eat either one of them again though. Maybe next time I go to Brunettis!

Would I try to make some? One hundred percent, absolutely not. These things take some serious skills to make as you can tell from the video below and given that I've never made pastry, there's no way I will try to make them. I will, however, continue to try them when I get the opportunity.

Do you have something that you really want to try?


  

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