Fried Olives

 I mean — they're fried olives stuffed with feta. Doesn't get much better than that.

Time to cook: ~ 30 mins

Ingredients

  • As many olives as you want to eat (pitted olives will make your life easier, but there is something quite zen about sitting down and pitting your olives. Put on some ambient music and try it sometime)

  • Feta (optional)

  • Panko breadcrumbs

  • Corn starch

  • All purpose flour

  • Eggs

  • Olive oil

Mise

  1. Mix your corn starch and flour with a 1:3 ratio.

  2. Crack an egg into a bowl and whisk it.

  3. If you decide to use the feta, cut it into rectangular prisms small enought to fit inside of your olives.

  4. Partially chop the panko in a food processor. This isn't necessary, but I've found that it creates a better breading, given that the object is so small.

  5. Prepare a sheet tray lined with paper towels.

Breading

Now you need to bread the olives. I'm going to be honest, this part kind of sucks. It's a time consuming process, but this snack is a labor of love.

  1. Grab an olive, and stuff it with feta.

  2. Roll the olive in your corn starch and flour mixture, then dip it in the egg. Make sure it's fully coated with the egg.

  3. Roll the olive in the panko. Try your best to cover the entire thing.

  4. Place the olive onto your prepared sheet tray.

Repeat those four steps for all your remaining olives.

Once you've finished all the olives, put the sheet tray in the fridge for a bit to let the breading set and everything chill a bit. It's easier to work with when the breading isn't falling off the olives. The refrigeration is optional, but I've personally found it beneficial.

Frying

This is the fun part.

Grab a heavy-bottomed pan with high walls (e.g. a dutch oven), and pour enough olive oil in there to cover an olive.

Heat the oil until its between 330-350°F. If you don't have a thermometer, you can test the oil by dropping a small piece of bread in there. If it sizzles and browns, you're good to go.

Because olives don't need to actually be 'cooked', we just want to fry them until the breading is the color we want. I like a nice golden brown, but you can take them as far as you want.

Once they're done, remove them from the oil, place them on your paper towel lined sheet tray to drain, and salt them lightly.

Serve with some sort of tangy yogurty dip, and enjoy!