Olive Ascolane al Forno — Baked Stuffed Ascoli Olives

Ingredients

• 36 Ascolana Tenera DOP olives, whole in brine, drained before use
• For the filling
• 100 g ground veal
• 100 g ground pork
• 100 g ground chicken
• 30 g unsalted butter
• 1 small mirepoix, onion, carrot, and celery finely diced
• 60 ml dry white wine, for deglazing
• 30 g Parmigiano-Reggiano, finely grated
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp lemon zest, finely grated
• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 30 g fine breadcrumbs, for binding the filling
• For crumbing
• 50 g plain flour
• 2 eggs, beaten, for egg wash
• 100 g fine breadcrumbs, for coating
• 60 ml extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling over the baking dish

Method

1. 1
   Melt the butter in a wide pan over medium heat. Add the mirepoix and sweat until the vegetables are soft and translucent. Add the three ground meats — veal, pork, and chicken in equal thirds — and cook, breaking up any lumps, until the meat has coloured throughout. Deglaze with the white wine and continue cooking, stirring frequently, until all liquid has evaporated and the mixture is completely dry. The pan should be nearly silent, with no steaming moisture remaining.
2. 2
   Transfer the cooked meat mixture to a food processor. Add the grated Parmigiano, egg yolk, lemon zest, nutmeg, and breadcrumbs. Process to a fine, firm paste. The filling must hold its shape when pressed between two fingers; if it feels loose or wet, this is where the dish lives or dies — a filling that is underdried or insufficiently bound will cause the olive to crack and the interior to become sodden during baking. Cool the paste completely before proceeding; refrigerate if making a day in advance.
3. 3
   Pit each Ascolana Tenera olive using a cherry pitter or a fine, sharp knife circled carefully around the pit, keeping the olive fully intact. Work methodically — a torn olive cannot be stuffed. The pitted olive should form a clean, hollow vessel.
4. 4
   Fill each pitted olive tightly using a piping bag or a small spoon. Press the filling in modestly — the filling will expand during baking and overfilling will cause the olive to burst. The filled olive should be plump but not stretched at the opening.
5. 5
   Set up three shallow dishes: one with flour, one with the beaten eggs, one with fine breadcrumbs. Roll each filled olive lightly in flour, shake off the excess, pass through the egg wash, and coat evenly in breadcrumbs. The crumb coating should be uniform, with no bare patches of olive skin visible.
6. 6
   Arrange the crumbed olives in a single layer in a baking dish. Drizzle the olive oil evenly over them. Bake at 200 °C for 20–25 minutes. The olives are ready when the breadcrumb exterior has turned a deep, even gold and the dish carries a warm, toasted-crumb fragrance.
7. 7
   Remove from the oven and rest briefly before serving. The olive skin should have softened and yielded; cutting one open should reveal a pale, cohesive, savoury filling — lemon-and-nutmeg-scented — cleanly set within the softened olive.