The fried olives stuffed with meat
Among the specialities of Italian cuisine, few are as irresistible as the olive all'ascolana, the fried stuffed olives of Ascoli Piceno, which have become popular all over Italy as an appetizer and street food. They are made with a particular variety of large, fleshy, green olive, the Ascolana Tenera, grown in the hills around Ascoli and protected, when preserved in brine, by the PDO designation "Oliva Ascolana del Piceno". According to tradition, the recipe was invented in the nineteenth century by the cooks of the noble families of Ascoli, who used the leftover meat from the kitchen to fill the olives.
The preparation is long and requires skill: the olives are pitted by hand, cutting the flesh in a spiral, so that it can then be wrapped around the filling; the filling is made with a mixture of different meats, usually beef, pork and chicken, browned with vegetables and white wine, then minced and mixed with Parmigiano, eggs, nutmeg and lemon zest. The olives are then stuffed, reconstructed into their original shape, rolled in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and fried in oil until golden and crispy. They are served hot, often together with the "cremini", fried cubes of custard, lamb chops and fried vegetables, in the "fritto misto all'ascolana". Every year in August, Ascoli hosts Ascoliva, a festival dedicated to this speciality, and in the town there are many shops and stalls selling them in paper cones.
Tip: buy a cone of fresh olive all'ascolana to eat while walking in the centre; try the cremini too.
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