A great recipe that comes from a need for recycling. To confirm that the most famous and appetizing dishes are often born almost by chance. This time we are talking about the Ascoli olives, a great must of the Marche cuisine. One of the dishes that best represent the city of Ascoli Piceno, in Italy and abroad. Ascoli olives are usually presented as a snack, a greedy appetizer to be combined with other fried foods. But they also lend themselves to being an excellent street food. Symbol of an Italian cuisine that, however it is proposed, from appetizers to desserts, from the most elaborate to the simplest dish, to street food for a snack and so on, remains the undisputed queen on the international scene. Here is the video recipe and good appetite, for the Ascoli olives it is really worth saying: “One leads to another”.
The cuisine of recycling at the base of the recipe for stuffed olives
Why recycling kitchen? The recipe for stuffed Ascoli olives is not very old. It dates back to the nineteenth century and is placed in the rich kitchens of the noble families of Ascoli Piceno. At the time, wealth in the kitchen was probably not very widespread but the local nobility certainly did not have the problems of ordinary people. The palace cooks had an abundance of meat, not only in quantity but also in variety. And in those days the preservation of food, and meat in particular, certainly could not count on adequate refrigeration systems. So, one of the ways not to waste meat, which still represented a precious good, was to reuse it for different recipes. For example, creating fillings. Whether the idea came to a single cook or that it was a widespread practice and therefore without a specific paternity, it is difficult to say. However, the Ascoli olives as we know them today are born from here.
In the “menu” of the legionaries and on the banquets of ancient Rome
But we cannot talk about Ascoli olives and their tasty meat-based filling without talking abouttender ascolan olive, which is the real secret of this dish. A product appreciated since the times of ancient Rome. Ascoli olives were preserved in brine and therefore also useful during travels because they had fewer problems with deterioration than other foods. They entered the simple "menus" of the legionaries, but were also highly appreciated in the banquets of important people whose names have come down to the present day. Cato, Varro, Martial ate them and wrote about them, Petronius in particular names them in his Satyricon. It is known that the tender Ascoli olives were also liked by Pope Sixtus V who talks about it in a letter sent to the Elders of Ascoli.
Rossini, Puccini, Garibaldi, great admirers of stuffed ascolana
Coming further in the centuries, among his admirers we find characters such as the musicians Gioacchino Rossini and Giacomo Puccini. And even the hero of two worlds Giuseppe Garibaldi. He tasted them in 1849 during a short stay in Ascoli, in their original version, simple. But also stuffed, and apparently he liked them very much. To the point of deciding to try to cultivate this particular type of olive tree on the island of Caprera. Apparently the experiment failed. The Ascoli olives must be those that are harvested in the territory of Ascoli Piceno. Until after the first half of the nineteenth century this product - in its version in brine and also in the one that includes the filling - was artisanal and was prepared in the family, often on the occasion of special moments such as Easter, Christmas and weddings. Alone in 1875 the engineer Mariano Mazzocchi, from Ascoli, decided to try to produce them industrially and market them. It was, and remains, a great success.
In brine or stuffed, the Ascoli Piceno olive is a DOP product
in 2005 olives in brine and stuffed olives produced in the territory of Ascoli Piceno have been recognized DOP, Protected Designation of Origin. Since 2018 this product is also protected by a consortium set up for its protection and enhancement. Do we want to try to prepare them? For the filling they serve mixed meats (beef, pork, chicken), to be cooked with cubes of lard and a little tomato sauce. Then blend softening with broth. Add an egg, breadcrumbs (previously soaked) a little parmesan, nutmeg and cinnamon scent, grated lemon peel, salt and pepper. The olives are stuffed, passed in beaten egg, flower flour and breadcrumbs. They are fried in abundant boiling olive oil.
