Olive all'Ascolana

By arielleclementine, posted 5 months ago

Photo: Sarah Shatz

Amanda & Merrill's Notes:

This high-low snack can work just as easily for a movie snack as it can for a dinner party hors d'oeuvres. These crunchy little flavor bombs come out of the hot oil looking like hedgehogs with a shaggy brown coating of panko. Inside is a layer of tangy olive and then rosemary-and-dried chile scented goat cheese. They hold up well, so you can fry them up to an hour in advance; just keep them warm in a low oven. And chill some prosecco. - A&M

I am an olive fiend, and for me, this dish is the ultimate snack food. Olives, stuffed with a savory goat cheese, breaded and fried until crisp, and topped with a shaving of sharp cheese, lemon zest, and a spritz of lemon. I do hope you like them! - arielleclementine

Serves 2 dozen

24 large green olives, pitted
1/2 cup goat cheese
1 teaspoon whole mustard seeds
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, chopped fine
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup all purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
1 cup breadcrumbs (fresh or panko)
1/3 cup parmigiano reggiano, or similar
1 cup vegetable oil
parmigiano reggiano, for sprinkling
zest and juice from one lemon, for sprinkling

In a small bowl, mix the goat cheese, mustard seed, rosemary, chile flakes, and garlic. Stuff the olives with the cheese mixture (I like to use my fingers, but you could also use a piping bag if you're really classy). Put the stuffed olives on a plate and refrigerate for 20 minutes, to let the cheese firm up.
While the olives are chilling, heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed frying pan to 375 degrees.
Set up three plates for your breading station. Put the flour on one plate, the beaten egg on the next, and mix the bread crumbs and cheese on the last plate.
When the olives have chilled, roll half of them in the flour, then in the egg, then in the bread crumbs and carefully drop them into the heated oil. Fry until golden brown, about one minute per side. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels to drain, and repeat with the remaining olives.
Pile on a plate and finish with a shower of freshly grated cheese and lemon zest and a spritz of lemon.

Comments (51)Add yours

Amber 4 months ago: My husband's family is from this region in Italy (don't ask me to spell it), so making the fried olives is a family tradition. They would be surprised by a goat cheese stuffing (since they are usually made with ground meat or fish), but this sounds delicious... and easier without the corkscrewing. To simplify Wolfert's technique a little, we buy pitted large olives. Then you corkscrew the olive to maximize the amount of filling you can squeeze in. We usually use a combination of ground pork with garlic, sage and parmesan for stuffing. Then I bread them in fresh breadcrumbs, because I find panko is more likely to fall off when you deep fry them.
ENunn 5 months ago: yes! Congrats. Olives were our friends. Now, they are our very good friends.
arielleclementine 5 months ago: haha! so cute! anything fried is definitely my friend.
pierino 5 months ago: Be careful what you wish for. Here in Arizona where I'm woefully stationed, they will deep fry anything including your hotel room pillow. And then they'll put sliced jalapenos on it with queso fresco. Thankfully they haven't figured out IED's yet.
Helenthenanny 5 months ago: What the what?!? I thought I had this one in the bag!!! I was ROBBED!!! My victory was supposed to taste like BACON!!!! Sorest. Loser. EVER. Family rift starts now.
arielleclementine 5 months ago: are you going to stab a fork in my forehead?
Helenthenanny 5 months ago: sleep with one eye open.
arielleclementine 5 months ago: i guess i will, girl-with-keys-to-my-house...
mrslarkin 5 months ago: uh-boy. She sounds like trouble. Arielleclementine, you'd better send Helen some bacon right quick, to appease the monster.
MyCommunalTable 5 months ago: My son was just visiting from overseas and will back for good in August. He made me promise to make these for him when he gets back. I think the comment of "deep fried goodness" that sealed the deal for him. Congrats. Obviously your family cooks like ours.
arielleclementine 5 months ago: oh wow! how kind- thank you for sharing that with me! happy travels to your son- i hope you both like the olives :)
ChezSuzanne 5 months ago: It really was a tough choice this week between the two of you! They are both great snacks - the olives ultimately won me over and I'm sending you a huge well-deserved congrats!!! Both you and your sister turned out great snacks for us to enjoy all week. Very fun for everyone.
arielleclementine 5 months ago: thank you so much! i'm very lucky to have a sister like her :)
nannydeb 5 months ago: Congratulations! You and your sister are both awesome!
arielleclementine 5 months ago: thank you! helen is truly wonderful :)
Food Blogga 5 months ago: What a fabulous recipe! I can't wait to try it.
arielleclementine 5 months ago: oh boy! thank you, Food Blogga!!
Molly Bacon 5 months ago: Sister face off was perhaps one of the toughest decisions I have ever made, but I can't wait to combine the two into even deeper fried goodness!!!
arielleclementine 5 months ago: yeesssss! we must and shall make this union happen.
Naked Beet 5 months ago: These look absolutely sinful. I'm afraid if I made them for a movie snack and not a dinner party I would never share my plate!
arielleclementine 5 months ago: haha! thanks, Naked Beet! i'm a notoriously terrible food-sharer, so you'll get no judgment from me!
panache 5 months ago: This was a tough call, but our lives were threatened after all....Thanx for the recipes, but most especially for the laughs.
arielleclementine 5 months ago: haha! you're awesome- thanks :)
Kayb 5 months ago: A bar in Memphis, unfortunately no longer extant, did deep-fried olives, but they involved minced olives (green and black) mixed with other ingredients, formed into olive-sized croquettes and fried. I can only imagine these would be even better. Gets my vote!
arielleclementine 5 months ago: what a cool bar snack! thanks for the vote :)
agamom 5 months ago: This would be a perfect treat to try making with the Seal Cove Farm goat cheese that is in the Shop. Olives and goat cheese are two of my favorite before dinner indulgences, and I can not wait to try this tonight, as all of these ingredients live in my cupboards. You have my vote and good luck!
arielleclementine 5 months ago: oh fun! i hope you like them! i think they'll be great with that goat cheese. thanks so much for your vote!
pierino 5 months ago: From the food history standpoint this dish comes from Ascoli Piceno in the Marches. The way they do it involves a delicate spiral cut with a small sharp knife on the olive to remove the pit. Paula Wolfert will tell you that this is easy. It's not.
mrslarkin 5 months ago: Found this youtube video demonstrating the olive cutting method. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HTa1ugfm6U Looks simple, but I'm sure I'd slaughter the poor olive.
pierino 5 months ago: Just kibbitzing now because I love fried olives whether you pit them or slice them. Personally I prefer to use fine unseasoned bread crumbs as opposed to panko. I also would like to try them filled with "nduja", a spicy, semi-soft Calabrian sausage I buy from Boccalone in San Francisco. Unfortunately at the moment, I'm stuck in Fort Stinking Desert, AZ, 400 miles from my own kitchen.
arielleclementine 5 months ago: I haven't heard of that sausage before- I'll have to check it out!
Janneke Verheij 5 months ago: this week it is especially hard to choose, two winners if you ask me....
arielleclementine 5 months ago: thank you so much :)
The Internet Cooking Princess 5 months ago: Don't hate me HTN, but I am also an olive fiend. It's a weakness that is just beyond my control. Congrats to both for two awesome recipes! (And if you meet up in Austin, do you think you could send a doggy bag via courier to Dallas? It would be much appreciated.)
arielleclementine 5 months ago: hooray! thanks, ICP! absolutely, we'll arrange a doggy-bag! you're definitely an honorary austinite!
Loves Food Loves to Eat 5 months ago: I've had bacon wrapped, (goat) cheese stuffed jalepenos (at the Matador here in Seattle!) but I've never had these little goodies, so in the end, hard as the decision was... the olives get my vote!
arielleclementine 5 months ago: oh man, that sounds tasty! i'll be in seattle this summer and will have to check that out! thanks for the vote!!
josie 5 months ago: you kids make me laugh. good luck to you both. i had to go olives for this one.
arielleclementine 5 months ago: oh boy! thanks, josie!
nannydeb 5 months ago: Two sisters as finalists! How fun! I'll try both of these recipes for happy hour tomorrow before I decide. They both look great!
arielleclementine 5 months ago: thanks, nannydeb! we're in talks with aargersi about having an austin food52 meet up- could you bring your lovely cake? oh boy!
jridolfi 5 months ago: I think the fried olives are from the Marche region in Italy. Morandi (Keith McNally's restaurant in the West Village) serves fried olives but I think they are stuffed with pork....delicious.....Can't wait to try your recipe with the goat cheese!
arielleclementine 5 months ago: yes, I've seen recipes for salami-stuffed fried olives, and those sound fantastic to me too- I'm just awfully fond of goat cheese, and use it whenever possible :) thank you!
Aliwaks 5 months ago: The Chef in the restaurant I work in is from Le Marche, we have Olive All'ascolana stuffed with meat (ground pork lamb beef) and Pesce Fritte ( stuffed with ground shrimp, calamari & monkfish). I love the idea of goat cheese stuffed!
Helenthenanny 5 months ago: YAHOO!!!! MY VOTE IS FOR YOU SISTER!!!! Also, these are really really delicious and you deserve to have these in a cookbook for sure!!
arielleclementine 5 months ago: your plan for sabotage has been thwarted, dubya! i voted for you! your hatchbacks would be a lovely addition to any cookbook!
pierino 5 months ago: Good luck. This is a fairly arcane recipe from Ascoli Piceno in Italy. I know it well. There they would use a mixed meat filling for the olives. And it's tricky to cut them properly. Nice to see something unique pop up here. Excellent idea!
arielleclementine 5 months ago: thank you! yes, i'm surprised you don't see these more often here in the states, given our penchant for all things fried :)
pierino 5 months ago: If you are in NYC go visit Perbacco on E. 3rd Street near Avenue B. This is one of their specialties. Again, a great idea.
mrslarkin 5 months ago: I love your tag line - deep-fried goodness!
arielleclementine 5 months ago: haha! thank you!