FRIED STUFFED OLIVES
Ingredients
For the stuffing:
1 tbsp. Olive oil
1/2 lb. Ground turkey (or chicken or pork)
1/4 c. Roasted red pepper (or pimiento), diced
1/4 c. Dry white wine
1/4 c. Plain or Italian-seasoned bread crumbs, as preferred
1/4 c. Grated Romano cheese
For the olives:
3 c. Queen (or largest available) olives, pitted
+/- 3c. Vegetable oil
1 c. Unbleached all-purpose flour
2 large Eggs, beaten
2 c. Parmesan bread crumbs
Directions
• In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat until just rippling.
• Crumble the ground turkey into the hot oil.
• Cook until thoroughly browned, crumbling into as small pieces as possible using a wooden spoon.
• Increase the heat to medium-high, add the wine, and cook until evaporated, probably 3 or 4 minutes.
• Transfer to a glass or ceramic bowl, and crush into very fine texture with a potato masher or fork.
• Allow to cool completely (you can do this more quickly with 30 minutes in the refrigerator).
• To the cooked turkey, add one of the beaten eggs, Romano, and bread crumbs. It should be a sturdy but malleable mixture. If it is too crumbly, add a bit of olive oil. If it is too loose, add a bit more cheese (or bread crumbs).
• Stuff each olive with about 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. of the stuffing mixture. Pack the stuffing firmly into each olive.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment (or waxed) paper.
• In a pan of a size to hold the oil 2-3 inches deep, place the vegetable oil.
• Heat the oil to 350º F+. The “water drop” test work well if you don’t have a thermometer.
• While the oil heats, place in a separate shallow dish for each the flour, the other beaten egg with a tablespoon water blended in, and the Parmesan bread crumbs.
• Coat each olive (you can do this in small batches, one ingredient at a time) in this order:
◦ Roll in the flour, shaking off the excess; then
◦ Cover in the egg wash, letting the excess drip back into the dish; then
◦ Coat thoroughly with the Parmesan bread crumbs; and
◦ Place on the lined baking sheet, and finish the other olives with the same procedure.
• Using a spider scoop or slotted spoon, carefully lower the stuffed and coated olives into the hot oil in small batches.
• Fry each small batch of the olives until a nice golden color, likely about 3-4 minutes.
• Remove to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and cool.
• Serve with toothpicks either slightly warm or at room temperature.
I’m absolutely crazy for olives. I just love them. So, I searched for an olive appetizer recipe for this holiday season. Lo and behold, Lidia Bastianich had – of course – a glorious one. Well, this one mimics hers in that the procedures are the same, but I changed the stuffing and breading. I think she’d approve.
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