Fried Garlic Olives

My Grandma makes fried, garlic stuffed olives. That's right, large green olives. With whole garlic cloves inside. Breaded and deep fried. Wow. I was beyond excited to try these at Christmas, but much to my dismay the breading contained eggs. I immediately thought to myself, "This would be SO easy to make vegan!" Some of my homemade breadcrumbs, a little cornstarch, voila!

I usually purchase the "gourmet" olives at Whole Foods. They always have a great selection, from kalamata to garlic stuffed to you name it. I also believe that BJ's or any of those giant "membership club" stores carry GIGANTIC jars of garlic olives. If garlic isn't your thing, use your favorite kind of olive, but larger sizes works better in this dish.

Fried Olives

• 1 cup large size olives, I prefer garlic stuffed
• about 1/4 cup oil reserved from olive jar
• 1 cup plain breadcrumbs
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• vegetable oil for frying

Place olives in a small bowl. Make sure they are completely coated with oil from their jar. If not, lightly coat with the reserved oil. In a large, shallow bowl combine the breadcrumbs and cornstarch. Set up a working station, from left to right place the bowl of olives, followed by the breadcrumb mixture followed by a large empty bowl. Working in small batches, place olives in breadcrumbs and toss to coat all over. Place coated olives in empty bowl. Continue until all of your olives are completely coated with breadcrumbs. Heat your vegetable oil over medium-high heat in a frying pan. When oil is hot carefully drop olives in a few at a time. Make sure not to crowd the pan or the olives will stick together. After 1-2 minutes olives should be a nice golden brown. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels or brown paper bags to cool. 

These make a great antipasti option along side roasted red peppers, marinated artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and a nice crusty bread.