← Nouns Cooking · Italian

Ingredients

• 40 large green olives, pitted (about 400 g)
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• ½ Onion, finely chopped
• ½ Carrot, finely chopped
• 150 g Minced beef
• 100 g Minced pork
• 80 g Chicken breast, diced small
• 60 ml dry white wine
• 40 g Parmesan, finely grated
• 1 Eggs
• 1 pinch Nutmeg
• 50 g plain flour
• 2 Eggs, beaten
• 100 g fine dried breadcrumbs
• 1 l sunflower oil, for deep-frying
• Salt

Method

1. Warm the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and soften the onion and carrot for 5 min. Add all the meat and cook for 10 min, breaking it up, until browned and cooked through.
2. Pour in the wine and let it bubble for 3 min until evaporated. Season lightly and leave to cool.
3. Blitz the cooled meat in a food processor until very fine, then mix in the parmesan, egg and nutmeg to make a smooth, firm paste.
4. Make a slit down one side of each olive, open it a little and press in a small ball of filling, then squeeze the olive back around it.
5. Roll each olive in flour, then beaten egg, then breadcrumbs. Lay on a tray.
6. Heat the frying oil in a deep pan to 170°C (340°F). Fry the olives in batches for 3–4 min, turning, until deep golden. Drain on kitchen paper and serve hot.

Tips

• Traditionally, whole olives are cut in a spiral around the stone and wrapped back around the filling; pitted ones are much quicker.
• Freeze breaded, unfried olives on a tray, then fry them from frozen for a minute longer.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

GialloZafferano Pasta Grammar