Vegetarian Ascolana Olives

To make the vegetarian Ascolana olives, first rinse the olives and soak them overnight with some sprigs of fresh fennel 1. Prepare the filling: clean and coarsely chop the chicory 2 and the zucchini 3.

Do the same with the chard 4, while the spinach can be left whole. Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the aromatic blend that you have made by blending carrot, celery, onion, and salt (see the advice section) 5. Add the chicory 6.

Add the chard and zucchini 7, mix well and add pepper 8. Cover with a lid and stew everything for 5-10 minutes 9.

After this time, add the spinach 10 and continue cooking for another 15-20 minutes, still covered 11. At the end of cooking, the vegetables should be completely dried out, so turn off the heat and let them cool 12.

Grind the vegetables together with the stale bread using a grinder 13. Add the egg 14 and the grated Parmigiano Reggiano PDO 15.

Flavor with nutmeg 16 and knead everything by hand 17 until you get a dry and compact mixture 18; if necessary, you can add a teaspoon of cornstarch.

At this point, drain the olives: remove the pit by making a spiral cut 19 20 so as not to break the pulp 21.

Insert a walnut-sized piece of filling inside the olive 22 and press it into the palm of your hand to compact it well 23. Continue this way to stuff all the olives 24.

You can move on to the breading: dredge the stuffed olives in flour 25, then dip them in beaten eggs 26 and drain with a strainer to remove excess egg 27.

Mix the spinach powder with the breadcrumbs 28 and coat the olives with the obtained mix 29. Proceed this way to bread all the olives 30.

You are ready to fry: heat plenty of vegetable oil to a temperature of 356°F, then immerse a few olives at a time 31 and fry for a few minutes. When they are evenly golden, drain and transfer to paper towels 32. Serve your vegetarian Ascolana olives immediately 33!