Butera Family Cannoli

Anyone who's seen the Godfather knows the quote: "Leave the gun, take the cannoli". It's the kind of moment that makes everyone smirk, who whacks someone and immediately thinks of dessert? The Italians thats who. And what could go better with a good classic mob movie than the classic Italian dessert? Noting. When we sat down to make this dish, we were going a little cannoli crazy around the Petruno household and Eric was wandering around the house mumbling what he thought was a pretty good godfather impression. Even the dog was unimpressed. Why had we gone crazy? A few weeks back Charisse had the Butera Family Cannoli recipe passed down to her from her Grandma Butera. This recipe had been in the family for generations and is saved for only the most special of occasions (mostly because it is a pain to make!). Maybe not a pain, rather a labor of love. A labor that is absolutely worth it, you will love them, we promise... have we ever steered you wrong? Back to the cannoli. This came from Charisse's Great Aunt Ida who was well known in the family for making these special treats. Charisse grew up around her Great Aunt but had never had the chance to try one. Actually nobody in Charisse's generation had the chance to try one, the recipe hadn't been made in 30 years! Now that Charisse has really taken on the cooking reigns in the family, Grandma Butera has been excited to share some of the family secrets with us, and this is one we've been excited for for quite some time now! In case you've never had a homemade cannoli, you can't even begin to compare store or bakery bought cannoli to these. Most of the time the shells are soggy or stale and the traditional Italian filling contains weird chopped up candied fruit and maraschino cherries. We took a few liberties with ours using plenty of Chocolate Chips and drizzled Chocolate on top. How very American of us and a little too liberal as far as Grandma Butera was concerned but for us, well you can't have enough chocolate! 

Red Beet Gnocchi with Mushrooms, Peas, and Frizzled Sage

Charisse is an artist by trade and by profession. She makes things pretty for a living. Vibrant complimentary colors with the occasional contrast thrown in for effect flow around pleasing shapes and enjoyable images. This is just the way she is. Eric on the other hand subscribes to the practical, doesn't-have-to-be-pretty-just-has-to-work school of doing things. You can even see this in our food, the prettier it is, the more Charisse had to do with it. These discussions have been the foundation of many of our disagreements, 99% of which end with "Eric your wrong because I said so". Every now and again, Eric does get to win, but that is usually regulated to picking between multiple pre-selected choices of the "which of these chairs do you like?" variety or futzing in the garage. Over the weekend, Eric got to actually win something on his own. We needed better lighting in the kitchen for our pictures, so Eric mounted some movable lights and flash-mounts to the ceiling to help even out our light sources. Not exactly pretty, but they do work, which just goes to show that sometimes the power drill is mightier than the paintbrush. Not often. But sometimes.

Our dinner Saturday night was very much Charisse's meal, the red beets became a vibrant red pasta topped with a very rustic sauce. Charisse has actually struggled with cooking Gnocchi, which was tough for her because it is one of her favorite foods. Gnocchi are very delicate to cook right, too long and they turn very mushy and you end up with more of a soup than a pasta. Trust us, we know. Pizza was good that night. Charisse played with it a few times and finally figured it out. These ones came out light and fluffy and bright red, but only carried a enough of a hint of beet flavor to add that extra something. We topped them with a sauce that tasted creamy, but actually had very little in it. With the frizzled sage on top, the dish came out very rustic looking, and tasted rustic too. Now if your not sure what rustic actually tastes like, try making this sauce, but be warned, theres a good chance you'll end up licking the plates clean like we did.