Olive all’ascolana — Meat-Stuffed Olives with a Crisp Breadcrumb Coating

Cut the beef and pork into cubes about 1 cm across and finely chop the onion, carrot and celery. Have a small heavy-bottomed pot with a lid and a food processor with a blade for chopping the cooked meat ready. Allow about 15 minutes for cutting and setting up your work area.

Heat the olive oil in the pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring, until the vegetables soften. Add both meats and the salt and cook for 5–10 minutes, turning the pieces, until lightly browned. Pour in the wine, scrape up the browned juices from the bottom with a spoon and cook uncovered for about 2 minutes.

Pour in 100 ml water, cover the pot and braise over low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. The meat should be cooked through and tender enough to yield easily when pressed with a fork; if it is still tough, braise it for a few more minutes with the lid on. Then uncover the pot and reduce the liquid for about 5 minutes, stirring, until no loose sauce remains on the bottom but the meat is still moist. Do not drain off the meat juices.

Transfer the meat, vegetables and remaining juices to a shallow dish, spread out in a thin layer and leave for about 10 minutes until no longer steaming. Refrigerate for about 20 minutes until cool; do not add the egg to warm meat. Meanwhile, drain the olives, dry them thoroughly with paper towels and check for any pieces of pit. Slit each olive lengthwise on one side only, from opening to opening, so it opens like a book while the other side stays joined.

Pulse the cooled meat and vegetables in the food processor, scraping down the sides, until no large pieces remain and the filling is fine and even. Transfer to a bowl and mix with the Parmesan, 1 egg, lemon zest, nutmeg and pepper. The mixture should be moist and easy to shape into a small oval without liquid seeping out; avoid prolonged processing into a smooth paste. Allow about 10 minutes for chopping and mixing.

Open a slit olive and place a small portion of filling inside, roughly a small level teaspoonful. Press the flesh around the filling and shape into a firm oval; a narrow strip of filling may remain visible along the slit and will be covered by the coating. Divide the filling evenly among the olives and set them on a plate without squeezing the flesh hard. Stuffing about 48 olives will take roughly 25 minutes.

Put the flour in one small bowl, beat the remaining 2 eggs in another and put the breadcrumbs in a third. Lightly coat each stuffed olive in flour, shake off the excess, dip it in egg and let it drain briefly, then roll in the breadcrumbs, pressing them gently along the slit. Arrange the olives in a single layer on a dry plate; the coating should also cover any visible filling. Allow about 15 minutes for coating, then discard the unused flour, egg and breadcrumbs.

Pour the sunflower oil into a tall pot about 20 cm in diameter with a capacity of at least 4 liters; the oil should be about 4 cm deep and fill less than half the pot. Heat it to about 175°C; a little coating dropped into it should sizzle immediately and gradually turn golden rather than darken quickly. Carefully add 8 olives at a time and fry each batch for about 3–4 minutes, turning gently, until the coating is evenly golden and crisp. Fry 6 batches this way, allowing the oil to heat back up between batches; allow about 35 minutes for heating the oil and frying all the olives.

Lift out each cooked batch with a slotted spoon and briefly transfer to paper towels to drain off excess oil. Spread the olives out loosely without covering them so the coating does not turn soggy from steam; serve each batch while still warm. The full recipe makes 6 snack servings of about 8 olives each. Leave the oil remaining in the pot to cool completely before disposing of it.