This post contains links that, if you click on them and make a purchase, will earn me money. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. . Regardless, I only recommend products or services that I believe will be good for my readers. Thanks for helping me continue to produce great content!
Italian Meat-Stuffed Fried Olives are divine, delicious delicacies. They are one of the best appetizers I have ever put in my mouth. In Italy, they are a traditional family dish, that is often made by the entire family, and which are served at celebrations, parties, and family get-togethers in the Marche region, where they are called, Olive all’Ascolana.
Once you have assembled them, which is, admittedly, a process, there they will be, waiting for you, in your freezer, and they can be fried, and ready for your company, in about 3 minutes. They are the perfect finger-food to serve with a glass of wine, while your guests are waiting for you to put the finishing touches on dinner.
We served our Italian Meat-Stuffed Fried Olives with a scrumptious Rosé from the vineyards of Simone Capecci, who offered me his vineyard’s kitchen for my cooking lesson. This rosé is Pallido.
I have served these to group after group of delighted guests, and I can’t recommend these more highly. So grab a friend, or some kids, or the whole gang, to help you assemble a batch of these, as many families assemble tamales. You will bless my name, and and re-make them yearly, to have on hand.
Where did you learn to make Italian Meat-Stuffed Fried Olives?
I learned to make these last summer on our trip to Italy, when I visited the Marche region, at a winery owned by Simone Capecci. His wines are SO worth searching out! They are organic, beautifully crafted wines, made by a true artisan, and some of our absolute favorites. Our friend, Eros Spinozzi, who travels often to the United States, is a wine rep for Simone Capecci wines, (as well as several other excellent wines) and it happens he lives near Simone. Eros took us to Simone’s vineyard, and arranged for me to have a private cooking lesson with his chef friend, Daniele (who is up for his first Michelin star!!!) in the professional kitchen there at Simone’s vineyard.
Eros (on the left) is teaching me how to pit an olive in English. This goes somewhat better than my initial attempt with Chef Daniele, since I understand Eros’ English words. Still and all, my olive pitting technique, however, is sadly lacking.
What is an Ascolana olive?
Ascolana is the name of a type of olive/olive tree that comes from the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the southern part of the region known as Marche (which is pronounced “Mar-kay”), on the central Adriatic coast of Italy. (That’s on the eastern side: think of it as the calf of Italy’s boot.)
Ascolana Tenera olive trees produce highly-prized heirloom olives. They are large, and bright green, and of course, unless you can find them already pitted, you will need to pit them. Here Chef Daniele is attempting to teach me how to do this, by cutting around the pit in a spiral fashion.
Chef Daniele is attempting to teach me, (in Italian) how to pit an olive, by cutting around the pit in a spiral. Unfortunately, I am listening in English.
What can I substitute for Ascolana Olives?
Since I have never seen Ascolana olives here in the States, to make our own version of this delicious dish, we went with a similar variety of olives that are large, light green in color, with a nutty flavor, the Castelvetrano olive, which IS available where we live. The chef who taught me to make these on my trip to Italy, Chef Daniele – his recipe called for 500 grams of olives. That’s equal to about 1 lb. of pitted Castelvetrano olives, which we found at Costco.
For this recipe, we wanted to make a lot of fried olives, all at once, in advance, and then freeze most of them so we could serve them to our guests on multiple occasions. Something this special we wanted to share with all our friends and family, at any type of celebration or get-together. When assembled in advance, they take practically no prep work before any special occasion. Therefore, we bought two 1 lb. jars of Castelvetrano olives.
Even with doubling the amount of olives in chef Daniele’s original recipe, we still had leftover filling. We froze that, too, for our next batch of Italian Meat-Stuffed Fried Olives.
Spiral-cut, pitted Ascolana olives are ready to stuff. The ones that are mangled are the ones that I cut.
Helpful Hint: Buy Pitted Castelvetrano olives!
This next picture shows the color of Castelvetrano olives. We bought them pitted, and this saved me so much time and so many feelings of inadequacy, since I never did completely master a perfect spiral cut on an olive with the pit in. With pitted olives, simply make one slit down the side, and voilà, your olive opens like a book when you stuff it.
Since we used pitted Castelvetrano olives, I only made a slit down one side of the olive, in order to be able to easily stuff them with the meat mixture.
One teeny tiny slit, down one side, from top to bottom, and then open them up like a book to stuff them.
What is the Filling for Italian Meat-Stuffed Fried Olives?
The filling you use to stuff these Italian Meat-Stuffed Olives is, perhaps somewhat surprisingly, not just meat. It is a cooked mixture of veggies (what’s known as a mire poix, in French, or a soffritto, in Italian), ground meats, an egg, some seasonings and some spices, and then you deglaze that pan with some white wine. After that all gets cooked together, you grind it in a food processor, binding it all together with an egg and some Parmigiano Reggiano, into a paste.
Carrots, onions and celery, ready to be sauteed.
Lemon zest and rosemary, because they go so well together!
Sauteing the veggies.
I start the filling by sautéing the vegetables in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. I like to see that the onions are moving toward becoming translucent before I add the meat mixture.
While the veggies are sautéing, I make the meat mixture by combining the venison, turkey and pork in a mixing bowl. I just use my hands to mix that up. If you can’t handle the thought of sticking your hands into raw meat, it’s fine to wear a pair of surgical gloves.
Daniele’s recipe called for beef, pork, and chicken. Locally, we did venison, pork, and wild turkey for our meat mixture.
What Kinds of Meat do you Use to Stuff your Italian Meat-Stuffed Fried Olives?
I used venison and wild turkey for two of my three meats, because my husband is a hunter and we have that meat in the freezer. But it is PERFECTLY fine to use beef and ground chicken from the grocery store. Use what you have access to. There’s also some ground pork in there, because wild turkey and venison are VERY low in fat, and you do want a little fat, for flavor.
The ratio of types of meats given to me by Chef Daniele was 10% chicken, 30% pork, 60% beef. The important thing is that the meat is lean and of high quality.
Adding the meat mixture, to let it sauté with the mire poix (the veg mixture).
Toward the end of sauté time, we poured in a little white wine.
You can see the steam coming off the pan as I deglaze it with some white wine.
The Filling of Italian Meat Stuffed Olives Becomes a Paste
We ground the sautéd meat & Veg mixture into more of a paste in the food processor. This is the BEFORE picture, before I began pulsing the mixture in the machine.
Now we take the fully cooked meat and veg mixture, and put it in the food processor, where it will be pulsed into a meat paste.
This is the AFTER picture of the meat paste.
To help bind it together I added beaten eggs.
And to that we added grated Parmigiano Reggiano, and some freshly grated nutmeg.
Again, I use my hands to mix all this together.
Time to stuff the olives with the meat paste.
You just need about a half teaspoon of meat paste for each olive. If the meat paste is too sticky to handle easily, you can put it in the fridge for an hour or so to firm it up.
And just stack them up as you finish stuffing them. Now, we’re ready for the breading process: flouring, egging and breadcrumbing.
How Do you Do The Breading Process for Italian Meat-Stuffed Fried Olives?
Flouring the olives. I put my flour in a glass pie plate.
Floured, and going to the egg wash.
Sitting in the dish of panko/bread crumbs.
Ready to be frozen, or fried.
First I roll them in flour. Then I dip them in some beated eggs. Finally, I roll them in panko, or breadcrumbs. Ta-da. That’s it.
At that point, you can choose as many as you like to keep in your freezer, waiting for when you have a family gathering or special friends over for dinner. I store them in Ziplock bags.
When it’s time to prepare them for serving, no need to thaw them. Just remove the portion you think you’ll need from the freezer, and heat up some olive oil to fry them in. Fry until golden brown, and you have an instant gourmet appetizer!
Deep frying the olives, after breading them. This was in Simone’s kitchen, and those hands are the hands of Simone’s wife, who came and helped us cook lunch that day.
A large spider (type of slotted spoon made for frying) works well to rescue the little beauties from the hot oil, if you don’t have a fry basket.
Meat Stuffed Fried Olives
Italian Meat-Stuffed Fried Olives are authentically Italian, and divinely delicious! Make a batch and save them in your freezer to wow your guests!
Ingredients
- 2 lbs of Castlevetrano olives
- 1 lb. of lean ground venison (beef is fine)
- 1/3 lb. of lean pork
- 1/4 lb of lean turkey (chicken is fine)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 carrot, finely chopped
- 1 stalk of celery, finely chopped
- 1/2 c. white wine
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon grated cloves
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
- 1 c. Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
- 1 egg, beaten
- FOR BREADING STATION:
- 1 c. white flour
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 2 cups panko/finely grated bread crumbs
- 2 c. olive oil for frying
Instructions
- THE SOAK: Immerse the olives in water overnight, the night before you make these to remove some of the salty taste of the olive's brine.
- TO PIT THE OLIVES: To pit the olives, cut around the pit in a spiral fashion with a small knife. Or better still, buy pitted Castelvetrano olives, and make a small slit from the top to the bottom of each olive.
- TO MAKE THE SOFFRITO/MEAT MIXTURE: Begin by browning the chopped veggies: carrots, celery and onion,. While the veggies are cooking you can mix the meats in a bowl: the venison (or beef), turkey (or chicken) and ground pork. Mix them together with your hands (wear gloves if you like). When the onions in the veggie mixture start to become translucent, add the meat mixture to the cooking veggies. When the meat is brown, add the rosemary, lemon zest, salt, and pepper. Finally, deglaze the pan by pouring over the dry white wine, and reducing it for a few minutes.
- TO MAKE THE MEAT PASTE: Remove the meat mixture from the heat, and pulse it in a food processor, until it finely ground. Season to taste with freshly ground nutmeg.
Add eggs and grated Parmigiano Reggiano to the meat mixture. Work into the meat paste with your (gloved) hands. - TO STUFF THE OLIVES: Form a ball with a pinch (about 1/2 teaspoonful) of the meat mixture and open the olive like a delicate book, to stuff it. Alternatively, if you pitted your own olives, wrap the olive spiral around the small pinch of meat.
- TO BREAD THE OLIVES FOR FRYING.
Prepare three bowls or pie plates, side by side: the first one filled with flour, the second, the beaten eggs, and the third filled with panko/breadcrumbs.
Coat a handful of olives first in the flour , then in the beaten eggs and finally in the breadcrumbs. - WHEN ALL YOUR OLIVES HAVE BEEN STUFFED, CHOOSE THE AMOUNT OF OLIVES YOU WANT TO SAVE FOR LATER, AND STORE THEM IN YOUR FREEZER IN ZIPLOCK BAGS.
- FOR THOSE YOU WANT TO SERVE NOW: Fry in plenty of olive oil (at least 2 cups) , at 350º, over medium heat. Turn and move the stuffed olives during cooking.
When they have reached a beautiful golden color, drain them on absorbent paper towels and serve. Taste to see if they could benefit from additional salt: fried foods love salt. These olives are excellent both hot and at room temperature!
Notes
HINT: It is a lot easier to buy pitted Castelvetrano olives and make one slit in them, than to pit your own by spiral cutting them.
In your meat filling, aim for a ratio of about 10% chicken, 30% pork, 60% beef. The important thing is that the meat is lean and of high quality.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
36Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 237Total Fat: 18gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 14gCholesterol: 38mgSodium: 425mgCarbohydrates: 10gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 8g
A Pinterest Pin to Share: Olive all’Ascona Italian Meat-stuffed Fried Olives
Anne
Monday 26th of August 2024
I've never seen anything like this, but I want to eat a whole bunch of it now! Perfect for sitting around on the porch at sunset with a glass of wine!