The Ascolana olives are among the most well-known and beloved finger foods of Marche cuisine, particularly from the city of Ascoli Piceno.
For the successful preparation of Ascolana olives, the secret is to obligatorily use the tender Ascolana olive, rich in sweet pulp, which grows in the Ascoli area and much of the province of Teramo. Moreover, the olive used for Ascolana olives is harvested before the harvest for oil, and is preserved in brine with wild fennel, in glass jars. My mother makes a stock every year, so it wasn’t difficult for me to use them for this recipe!
Making Ascolana olives at home requires a bit of your time, and I recommend making them in company: it will be a great experience and you’ll have fun! As you may know, I live a few kilometers away from Ascoli Piceno, where there’s still the tradition of making them at home with family: large quantities of olives are prepared, then frozen and fried as needed.
In my area, there is no festival or special occasion without the legendary Ascolana olives and the delicious fried Ascolana cremini!
Try this version too: Fish Ascolana Olives
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 40 Minutes
- Portions: 100Pieces
- Cooking methods: Stove, Frying
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 100 green "tenera ascolana" olives in brine
- oil for frying
- 9 oz beef
- 5.3 oz pork meat
- 3.5 oz chicken breast
- Half carrot
- Half stalk celery
- Half onion
- Half glass white wine
- 1 egg
- 1.8 oz grated parmesan cheese
- to taste nutmeg
- to taste extra virgin olive oil
- to taste salt
- to taste pepper
- to taste all-purpose flour
- to taste eggs
- to taste breadcrumbs
- to taste salt
Tools
- Meat Grinder
- Knife
Steps
To make Ascolana olives, pour a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil into a pan, add coarsely chopped carrot and celery, and half an onion. Let it sauté for a few minutes.
Then add the beef and pork, coarsely chopped, pepper, and cook for about 20 minutes, covered with a lid.
Finally, add the chicken breast, wine, and salt. Continue cooking for about an hour over low heat, stirring occasionally. Once the meat is cooked, turn off the heat and let cool.
While the meat cools, pit the olives: with a kitchen knife, cut the olive in a spiral starting from the stem, to obtain a spiral of pulp freed from the pit, being careful not to break the olive.
Once the meat is cold, grind it with a meat grinder, transfer it to a bowl and add the egg and parmesan. Season with some grated nutmeg and knead with your hands to obtain a homogeneous mixture.
Fill the olives with the obtained filling, taking care to restore their original shape.
Prepare a small plate with flour, beat the eggs with a pinch of salt in a bowl, and put breadcrumbs on another plate.
Proceed to breading: roll each olive first in the flour, then in the beaten egg, and finally in the breadcrumbs.
Fry the Ascolana olives in hot oil, turning them occasionally until they are evenly golden; then drain and place them on a plate with paper towels.
Serve the olives hot and enjoy your meal!
If you make one of my recipes, share it using the hashtag #ricettedilibellula.
Have you ever tried cooking Ascolana olives in an air fryer? Watch the following video!
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