Olive Ascolane Ramone

Name: Olive Ascolane Ramone
Ingredients: 16 ounces fat green olives; 2 ounces mozzarella or scamorza cheese; 2 ounces sorpressa or other semi-soft, cured Italian sausage; Ground white or black pepper; 1/4 cup Wondra (superfine flour); 1 whole egg, beaten; 1 cup fine, unseasoned bread crumbs; Zest from two lemons; Olive oil for deep frying (you don't need extra virgin for this, just a good quality oil)

9 ingredients

8 steps

Ingredients

16 ounces fat green olives
2 ounces mozzarella or scamorza cheese
2 ounces sorpressa or other semi-soft, cured Italian sausage
Ground white or black pepper
1/4 cup Wondra (superfine flour)
1 whole egg, beaten
1 cup fine, unseasoned bread crumbs
Zest from two lemons
Olive oil for deep frying (you don't need extra virgin for this, just a good quality oil)

Directions

1

Stone the olives
2

In a food processor, or by hand, chop your sausage until it's malleable but not a puree
3

Cut the cheese into pieces that will fit in the olive cavity
4

Heat the oil in a deep, heavy duty pan or fryolator to 375F
5

Set up your fry station: in sequence; Wondra combined with ground pepper, beaten egg, bread crumbs
6

Stuff the olives by hand with the two fillings. DON'T mix the fillings, they are meant to be separate tastes. There are tools that can help you with this step but a chopstick can be of help too.
7

When the oil is hot roll the stuffed olives first in the Wondra, dip in the egg wash, and roll in the bread crumbs
8

Fry in the oil for about 2 minutes. Scoop out with a spider, and onto parchment or paper towel. Hit these with lemon zest while still hot. Serve on a platter with toothpicks at the ready. For non-meatarians it should be obvious which is which. This is definitely not a kosher dish.