A to Z, 5 Pin Bowling.

Well that was dumb of me, I took part in a blogfest yesterday, but the link I had left on the sign up page didn’t work, I goofed. Oh well, in a couple of days, on the 30th, I can sign up for the A to Z Challenge for this year. That is writing in April using a different letter of the alphabet every day except Sundays. I took part last year and I selected a recipe every day beginning with the appropriate letter. It was fun to do and it helped to increase some of my following. It was also fun meeting other bloggers and reading what they said in their challenges. It was much easier for me than for some as I blog every day but Sunday anyway.

We also went to our usual bowling, we had had so much snow the previous night that a lot of people didn’t make it, for one reason or another, so as there were only the two of us on our team, we paired up with a couple of other players. None of us bowled well for some reason, but I did have a 200 game at the end, not sure how that happened. I noticed there were three scores posted on a board for this season one at 408 and two at 410. A perfect game in 5 pin is 450 or 12 strikes in a row. If you want to know more about 5 pin this is a link to a Wikipedia article. I have never bowled that high a score although Matt has, some while back; let’s face it I was thrilled to bits to bowl 314 a couple of years ago.

Having said I was going to cook the Bolognese Rice Cake for Saturday, I ended up deciding to cheat and have bought some Cannoli instead. Standing cooking for a long time is not so easy for me any more and I love Cannoli anyway. I got them at our favourite store, Vincenzo’s and they assured me they were good for Saturday. I also bought a jar of roasted peppers for my antipasto.

If you want to try your hand at making cannoli, here is a recipe for you. If you have a good bakery nearby I think its easier to buy them.

Sicilian Cannoli

Gourmet | May 2005

Makes about 10 desserts

True Sicilian cannoli are made using fresh sheep's-milk ricotta. We've substituted a combination of fresh cow's-milk ricotta and goat cheese. If you don't like goat cheese, use additional ricotta instead.

Ingredients

For cannoli shells

• 1 cup all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 lb cold lard
• 2 tablespoons sweet Marsala wine
• 1 large egg, separated
• About 3 cups vegetable oil

For filling

• 1 lb fresh ricotta (2 cups)
• 2 oz soft mild goat cheese
• 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 1 tablespoon minced candied orange peel
• 1/2 teaspoon orange-flower water (also called orange-blossom water)
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/3 cup shelled unsalted pistachios (not dyed red), chopped
• 2 oz bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped (1/2 cup)
• Special equipment: a pasta maker; a 4- to 4 1/4-inch round cookie cutter; a deep-fat thermometer; 6 (roughly 5 5/8- by 5/8-inch) metal cannoli tubes; 2 heavy-duty oven mitts; a pastry bag fitted with a 3/4-inch plain tip
• Garnish: confectioners sugar

Preparation

Make dough for shells:
Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Add 2 tablespoons lard and blend in with your fingertips until combined. Add wine and yolk and stir until a dough forms.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes. Form dough into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then let stand at room temperature 1 hour.

Make filling while dough stands:
Beat together ricotta, goat cheese, confectioners sugar, orange peel, orange-flower water, and cinnamon in a bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed 1 minute (do not overbeat). Fold in nuts and chocolate until combined and chill.

Make shells:
Set smooth rollers of pasta maker at widest setting. Unwrap dough and cut in half, then lightly flour 1 piece (keep remaining half covered with plastic wrap). Flatten floured dough into an oval and feed through rollers. Turn dial down 2 notches and feed dough through rollers again. Continue to feed dough through rollers, making space between rollers narrower by 2 notches each time, until narrowest setting is used.

Line a baking sheet with plastic wrap. Transfer rolled dough to a lightly floured surface and cut out 4 or 5 rounds with floured cutter. Transfer rounds to baking sheet and keep covered with more plastic wrap. Roll out remaining dough and cut rounds in same manner. Gather scraps and let stand 10 minutes. Roll out scraps and cut in same manner.

Heat remaining lard with 1 1/4 inches oil in a 4-quart heavy pot over moderate heat until it registers 350°F on thermometer.

Meanwhile, lightly oil cannoli tubes. Lightly beat egg white, then brush bottom edge of 1 dough round with egg white. Wrap dough around a tube, overlapping ends (egg-white edge should go on top), then press edges together to seal. Make 5 more shells in same manner (keep remaining rounds covered with plastic).

Fry dough on tubes 1 at a time, turning with metal tongs, until 1 shade darker, about 45 seconds. Wearing oven mitts, clamp end of hot tubes, 1 at a time, with tongs and, holding tube vertically, allow shell to slide off tube onto paper towels, gently shaking tube and wiggling shell as needed to loosen. (If you allow shell to cool it will stick to tube and shatter when you try to remove it.) Transfer shells to paper towels to drain and cool tubes before reusing. Wrap remaining dough around tubes and fry in same manner.

Spoon filling into pastry bag and pipe some into 1 end of a cannoli shell, filling shell halfway, then pipe into other end. Repeat with remaining shells.

Cooks' notes: •Dough can be made 1 day before frying shells and chilled. Let dough stand at room temperature 1 hour before rolling.
•Shells can be fried 2 days ahead and cooled completely, then kept, layered between paper towels, in an airtight container at room temperature.

Have a great day