Gone Girl. Have you read the book? It’s twisted and dark in the best way possible, a real page-turner, enormously suspenseful. Written by Gillian Flynn, who’s storytelling is wickedly funny and scrumptiously creepy, the plot is a sticky spiderweb of “who dunnit?” And now the movie adaptation comes out tomorrow, for which she also wrote the screenplay. They chose the perfect director for it, too: David Fincher! And it was filmed in my town, Cape Girardeau, Missouri! And my family and I along with several of our friends got to be extras; an amazing experience! And, I also got to meet….wait for it….(no, not Neil Partrick Harris–Barney Stinson joke there)…but Ben Affleck. Gulp. Heart flutter. Swoon.
Don’t worry, I’m not going to spoil the book or movie for you, in fact I have no idea how the movie will end–I hear it may be different from the book, we’ll see–but I do have to give you a teensy bit of background so this recipe choice makes sense.
The two main characters, Nick and Amy (Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike) are two writers who meet in New York at a party, where they bond over the host’s lack of food and drink. Nick jokes with Amy that out of the 3 things in the host’s fridge, he could make her an olive with mustard…“just one olive, though.” That phrase becomes an inside joke…maybe more inside to Amy than Nick.
They fall in love, get married, lose their jobs to the recession, then have to move to Nick’s hometown in Missouri to take care of his ailing parents. Out of work and needing an income, Nick decides to open a bar with his twin sister; they name it The Bar. Amy’s left at home with nothing to do…then, stuff goes down. Hard. That’s all I’ll say, you gotta read the book or see the movie. And I’m sure, given the remarkable director and cast, it’s going to be a killer movie!
And so, my delicious and naughty ode to Nick and Amy is Beer Batter Fried Green Olives with Sriracha Mayo. The beer, in honor of The Bar, and the olives for Amy…though, she doesn’t have to eat just one!
Filming one of The Bar scenes…you can see the Mississippi River in the distance.
Here comes Ben! He’s walking toward the crowd, my palms were getting sweaty and my heart was beating so fast!
He was so nice and hung around until everyone got a picture.
(my son, Giovanni, and I with Ben Affleck)
Some of the Extras’ props–missing Amy t-shirts. This was for one of the scenes my son was in…the search party beach scene. He was the only kid on set that day and stood right beside Ben Affleck the whole time, take after take after take. My husband, son and I were also in the candlelight vigil scene, and my husband plays a journalist in the courthouse scene. (these are all scenes that have been in movie trailers, so no spoilers here!)
These olives! Golden, crispy, fried, stuffed with jalapenos…betcha can’t eat “just one olive, though”…
…especially with this Sriracha Mayo!
Eat ’em til they’re Gone, Girl.
This recipe has been submitted to the Virtual Vegan Linky Potluck
Beer Batter Fried Green Olives with Sriracha Mayo
2/3 cup vegenaise or mayonnaise
2 – 3 teaspoons sriracha
juice from 1/2 lemon
1 small clove garlic, mashed into a paste
pinch of salt
Whisk all of the mayo ingredients together in a bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve.
grapeseed or vegetable oil for frying
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
few dashes smoked paprika
3/4 – 1 cup beer (I used a pale lager)
2 1/2 dozen stuffed green olives (pimento, jalapeño, garlic, or blue cheese), patted dry
Pour oil into a medium-sized saucepan, filling about half-way, and heat over medium to medium-high until a thermometer reaches 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with a couple layers of paper towels, set aside.
Place 1/2 cup of the flour in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, whisk together the remaining 3/4 cup of flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and paprika. Add 3/4 cup of the beer and whisk until smooth. Add more beer if needed; the consistency should be like heavy cream.
Working in batches (about 6 olives at a time), dredge the olives in the plain flour, shake off the excess flour, then place them in the batter and gently move the olives around with a spoon to thoroughly coat them. Using a slotted spoon, lift the olives out of the batter, letting the excess batter drip off, and carefully lower them into the hot oil. Fry for 2 – 4 minutes, until golden brown. Remove the olives using a spider or slotted spoon and place them on the paper towel-lined baking sheet to drain. Sprinkle with salt while they’re hot. Note: you may need to periodically scoop out the fried batter bits to prevent them from burning and making the oil bitter.
Serve the olives with the sriracha mayo. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Bon Appétit!
the Seasonal Veg Head 
Cor! What a yum thing to serve guests as appetisers. Or to share with a bottle of red plonk over a board game. Nice satisfying vegan alternative to cheese and crackers.
Thanks! The crunch is addictive and that “mayo” give it a nice, creamy contrast. I’ve never heard of red plonk, I’m going to go Google it now… 🙂
I loved Gone Girl, too, and am anxiously awaiting the movie this Friday! cool way of connecting it to your post! Never thought of beer battered olives before!
Thank you! I have a feeling the movie is going to be frighteningly fantastic!
Everything about this post <333 I am just beyond jealous right now. I am so excited to see this movie tomorrow… thank you for sharing the recipe to go along with it… now I am even more excited and antsy!! ❤ B
thank you, thank you! i’m going to be on the edge of my seat…with possibly my hands over my eyes some of the time 😉
What a fantastic post! I want to read the book, watch the movie and eat the olives! Glad you had such a brilliant time with Ben, thanks for sharing it with the rest of us 🙂
i hope you do; it’s an excellent book! this was such a fun post to write! thanks for the lovely compliment! 🙂
What a fantastic experience!! Very fun. And these olives…oh my gosh!!
It was a really cool, once-in-a-lifetime experience! Thanks!
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Ohh yum! Crispy fried battered olives…sounds perfect. I totally need to read Gone Girl now too, you have me intrigued!! How exciting to meet Ben Affleck!!
Thanks Kyra! Both the book and the movie are really good! If the movie is nominated for any awards, I’ll definitely make them for an Oscar party…they’d go great with dirty martinis! 🙂
[…] Beer Battered Fried Green Olives with Sriracha Mayo from Seasonal Veg Head […]
yesterday i made this recipe and serve to guests and they liked it very much..
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Wonderful, I’m so glad!! 🙂
[…] nuts when the movie came out, and to join in on the excitement I did a Gone Girl-themed food post: Beer Batter Fried Green Olives with Sriracha Mayo… totes vegan! […]
These are awesome thank you!!! My new favourite ❤️👌
[…] Beer Battered Fried Green Olives with Sriracha Mayo from Seasonal Veg Head […]