Stuffed Olives of Ascoli Piceno

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs Large Green Olives

10 oz lean beef in a 2 pieces

5 oz pork loin in a single piece

5 oz chicken breast in a single piece

3 Tbsp butter

8 oz grated Parmigiano Reggiano

4 eggs

7 oz Fine dried breadcrumbs

4 oz all purpose flour

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Filling Preparation:

Sauté the meats all together in butter until fully cooked.

Remove from heat and allow to cool.

Pass the cooked meat, chicken and pork through a meat grinder.

In large bowl, combine the ground meat mixture with the Parmigiano Raggiano and 2 eggs

Mix well and set aside.

Olive Preparation:

Peel each olive in a circular fashion (like peeling orange?) to remove the pit.  Preferably one is left with 1 continuous piece.  Don’t worry is the peel breaks; it can still be used to mold the olive into the correct shape.

Stuff the olives so that they have the approximate shape of the initial olive.  This does not have to be exact.  Use the amount of filling that seems appropriate to mold the stuffed olive into its approximate original shape.

Coat each stuffed olive with flour, pass in the 2 remaining beaten eggs and then in the bread crumbs.  Deep fry in abundant hot extra virgin olive oil.  One can also use a shallow pan, just make sure the olives are totally covered by the olive oil.  Remove with slotted spoon when golden brown and place on paper towels to drain.  Serve hot and traditionally one should use your hands, no utensils.

Paired with:

Angelini Prosecco $10.99 and Fausti Rosso Piceno $10.99

Passatelli con Porcini

Ingredients for Passatelli:

4 eggs

2 oz flour

6 oz grated Parmigiano Reggiano

4 oz breadcrumbs

the grated peel of 1 lemon

1 Tbsp butter

nutmeg

salt and pepper

4 qt chicken broth

Directions:

Mix the eggs, grated lemon peel, butter, pinch of nutmeg and salt.  Mix in the flour, breadcrumbs and Parmigiano in that order.  Mix thoroughly until one achieves a homogeneous mixture.  Add more breadcrumbs to get  a more consistent mixture.Let sit  for about 1 hour covered by damp cloth.  Use a potato strainer (ricer) to make the passatelli, which should look like very thick spaghetti.

Ingredients for Porcini Sauce:

10 oz porcini mushrooms

1 oz butter

1 clove of garlic

4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

1 cup chicken broth

Parsley

Thyme

Salt and pepper

Directions:

Sauté the sliced porcini in hot extra virgin olive oil and garlic. Add salt and pepper,, thyme, butter and chicken broth and finish cooking.

Final Preparation:

Bring the chicken broth to a boil.  Add the passatelli and cook for a few minutes.  Drain and mix with sauce adding a bit of parsley and parmigiano.

Paired with:

Palagetto Vernaccia $12.99, Angelini Estate Sangiovese $16.99