The deep-fried meat-filled Ascolana olives is just one of the most representative appetizers or finger food of the Marche region's culinary tradition and, although preparing requires a lot of patience, your guests will go into raptures over them! The recipe dates to the 18th century and calls for the soft olives of Ascolana strain - large, green and mild that were renowned in Roman times! Are you ready to slave in the kitchen  before getting praised for your superb cooking expertise?

Let's start with the  ingredients:
400 g large Ascolana olives (either packed in brine, or, better still, those sold loose at any Italian greengrocer's)
100 g pork sausage
100 g ground veal meat
1/2 cup meat or veg stock
50 g pancetta or prosciutto fat (sort of bacon)
250 g good bread crumbs
soft inner part of two bread rolls
1/2 glass white wine (preferably the excellent local Passerina or Pecorino whites!)
80 g freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
1 carrot
1 stalk celery
1 onion
2 large eggs
2 tbspoons flour
1 tbspoon minced parsley
a pinch freshly ground nutmeg
40-50 g fresh butter
salt and pepper
one freshly grated organic lemon zest
extra-virgin olive oil for frying


Preparation:
Finely chop the carrot, celery and onion and brown them in butter over low heat. Dice the veal, crumble the sausage and sauté them in same pot where the veg are cooking. Stir gently and when they are nice and brown, pour the white wine, let evaporate, add the pancetta or posciutto fat and let sauté for a moment. Add a little, stir in the broth and simmer for about half an hour. 
While the meat is simmering start pitting the olives. Get a little knife and make a spiral cut from ther top to the bottom of the olives as if you were peeling an orange or an apple. Get close to the pit but try not to break the olives which must be reassembled later on. Remove meat from heat,  drain with a slotted spoon, lay in a large bowl and allow to cool. Then mix it with a food processor , add the grated lemon zest, the nutmeg, the egg, the parsley, the grated cheese, the soft inner part of two bread rolls, and check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste as needed. Let rest for a litttle while. Take a piece of mixture, open an olive, fill it with the stuffing and recompose it, keep going until all the olives are stuffed. Beat an egg. Coat the olives in the flour, dip them in the beaten egg, roll them in the bread crumbs. Fry them in very hot oil, drain them and serve!