The recipe is old; it dates back to 1800. They take many hours to prepare and each family has their own version. The differences come from the choice of meat, from the use of spices or lemon, from the breading and, obviously, from the type of olive. Traditionally they should be made with tenera ascolana olives, one of the three Italian DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) olives, but its production is very limited and, above all, the tenera is difficult to pit using a knife because of its fragility. For this reason artisanal producers ask a higher price for the Ascolane DOP.
The traditional recipe of Ascolane olives
To make 100 stuffed olives (about 3.5 lb of finished product) you will need:2.2 lbs of tenera ascolana olives; 13 oz of lean beef meat; 4 oz of pork meat; 4 oz of chicken or turkey breast; 4 oz of grated Parmesan; three eggs; nutmeg; the rind of about half of an untreated lemon; one clove; one stalk of celery; one onion; a glass of white wine; white flour; bread crumbs; extra virgin olive oil and salt.
Once the olives have been drained from their brine, one of the main tricks is to soak the olives for a few hours in fresh water with a generous dose of wild fennel. Chop the celery, carrot, onion and a clove and brown them lightly with a little oil in a pot. Cut the meat into small pieces, brown it together with the vegetables and lemon rind, simmer with white wine until reduced and salt to taste. When the meat is cooked, it must be left to cool and then you can grind it with a meat grinder. Add a pinch of nutmeg, 2 eggs and the Parmesan; mix well until you obtain a homogeneous mixture.
Meanwhile, pit the olives using a small knife with a smooth blade: starting from the stem cut the pulp away from the pit in a spiral motion without ever removing the blade from the olive, thus obtaining a single strip of pulp. Take the filling and stuff the olives by reassembling the original shape of the fruit. Cover each olive with flour, then dip it in beaten egg and finally coat with breadcrumbs. In a large frying pan bring the temperature of extra virgin olive oil (or sunflower oil) to 330° F and dip the olives in turning them until they are golden brown on the outside; drain them, place them on a sheet of absorbent paper and serve piping hot.
Four places to enjoy olives in Ascoli Piceno
From charming agriturismos to neighborhood eateries; you’ll be spoiled for choice. Away from the alleys of the historic center, numerous businesses related to the Ascoli mixed fry have flourished in recent years.