Olive Ripiene Fritte - Fried Stuffed Olives

In the Marche region of Italy, and certainly appearing in other areas of Italy also, you will find large, green, stuffed Ascolan olives. These olives typically appear on menus as an antipasto, snacking with friends and some beer, or to have with an Italian aperitivo, and a dipping bowl of marinara. They are easy for the home cook to make for casual gatherings, picnics or holiday feasts...

You can use large, green pitted olives found in jars in supermarkets. The larger the olive, the better. If you buy the pitted type, you can fill them with anything that meets your tastes: provolone, roasted garlic cloves, walnuts, blue cheese, pimentos, or as they do in the Marche, filled with cooked ground beef with nutmeg added. Otherwise, just use the ready-filled olives that are available.

First, coat them in flour, then in beaten egg and finally in "Italian style" or breadcrumbs--or even Panko. Then simply fry them in olive oil until golden brown. You can eat them while hot as is, or serve with a dipping marinara sauce. They can even be made ahead of time and re-heat well in a 350 F oven for 5-8 minutes or quickly in a microwave.

As an option to marinara as a dipping sauce, try some
Garlic-Lemon Aioli...
Whisk together the following:
1/3 cup mayonnaise
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
salt and pepper to taste


--GVI

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