Olive Ascolane (Stuffed Fried Olives)
Olive ascolane are green olives stuffed with a spiced meat filling, breaded and fried, a classic starter from Ascoli Piceno. This version cooks pork and chicken breast in tomato gravy first, then grinds them with Parmesan, lemon rind, nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice. Because the meat is already cooked, the frying only needs to crisp the crust. They also freeze well before frying, which suits making a big batch ahead.
Instructions
Cook the pork and chicken breast in your favorite tomato gravy until done. Lift the meat out of the sauce and let it cool completely.
Grind the cooled meat with a meat grinder or food processor. Stop while the texture is still coarse, since overprocessing makes the filling pasty.
Mix the ground meat with the chopped olives, Parmesan, grated lemon rind, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and salt. Cover and chill the mixture for at least one hour so it holds together.
Roll the cold filling into balls about the size of a small walnut. Press an olive half onto each side of every ball.
Roll each ball in flour, dip it in the beaten egg, then coat it in bread crumbs. Set the coated balls on a tray. At this point they can be frozen unfried, but they must be fully defrosted before frying.
Fry the balls in about ½ inch of canola oil until golden brown. The meat is already cooked, so you only need to color the crust, which takes little time.
Drain the olives and serve them.
Make it personal.
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