By Nat D’Ignazio
Aside from home-made pasta, ravioli, passata and easter pizza bread my favourite all time food memory without doubt is home-made Olive Ascolane or fried stuffed olives. My mum used to prepare this specialty every year before most celebratory occasions. We now get together as a family weeks before Christmas and rediscover unity and family ties while recreating these stuffed olive beauties ready for Christmas day celebrations and following get togethers.
I found on one of the SBS Italian cooking episodes shown by Silvia Colloca this dish which I understand is one of the most-loved local foods from Marche (Mum and Dad’s region) and one of the best-known, too – olive Ascolane or all’Ascolana owe their name to the city of Ascoli Piceno (Central Italy). There, a special variety of soft, large green olives has been grown since Roman times, making for one of the finest specialties from the area. But as these are not available in Australia any preserved large green olives can be substituted especially the brine preserved pitted variety, the larger the better.
Olive Ascolane are traditionally made using fine local green olives, which are then stuffed with a meat filling, breaded and deep fried. The local custom would call for olives that are cut in spirals in order to remove the pit. To make the process a tad easier, you can – as I do – partially slice the pitted olive for an equally delicious result.
Find the recipe here below!