Olive all'Ascolana | Italian Stuffed Olive Recipe
Watch the Pasta Grammar video where we make this recipe here:
For this recipe, you will need:
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/3 large carrot, diced
- 1/2 stalk celery, diced
- 1/4 white onion, diced
- 1 3/4 oz. (50g) pork stew chunks
- 1 3/4 oz. (50g) beef stew chunks
- 1 3/4 oz. (50g) ground chicken
- Salt
- Fresh black pepper
- 1/2 cup (120ml) white wine
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 3 oz. (85g) fresh breadcrumbs
- 1 3/4 oz. (50g) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, or to taste
- Lemon zest
- 50 colossal green olives, pitted (feel free to make fewer, but the stuffing yields enough for up to about 50 olives)
- All-purpose flour for battering
- Dry breadcrumbs for battering
- Vegetable oil for frying
Bring the olive oil up to medium temperature in a pan. Add the carrot, celery and onion, and sauté for 2-3 minutes or until the onion is tender and slightly transparent. Add the meat and cook until browned, then salt/pepper to taste.
Add the white wine into the meat and bring to a simmer. Cook until the excess moisture has evaporated/thickened. Transfer the meat into a blender or food processor, along with 1 egg, the nutmeg, fresh breadcrumbs, Parmigiano cheese, and a pinch of lemon zest. Blend into a fine crumble and transfer into a mixing bowl.
If you find the mixture to be quite sticky and/or wet, mix in dry breadcrumbs until you achieve a soft, tacky consistency. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix thoroughly.
Using a paring knife, cut a each olive into a spiral. Insert the tip of the knife at one end of an olive, then carefully turn it downwards until you reach the opposite end. In the end, the olive should appear solid but by twisting it one can open it up to reveal the inside.
Gently twist open each olive (be careful not to break them), insert a pinch of the stuffing, then twist the olive closed again. Line up three small bowls: one filled with all-purpose flour, another with 2 beaten eggs, and a third with dry breadcrumbs. Dip each olive first in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Repeat these steps to double-batter each olive. Set aside on a baking sheet.
Fill a small saucepan with enough vegetable oil to submerge the olives, and bring it up to a medium/high temperature on the stovetop. To test the temperature, drop a breadcrumb in the oil. If it begins to bubble immediately, the oil is hot enough to fry.
Working int batches, carefully drop the olives into the oil and fry until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel to cool. Buon appetito!
