Pastrami Wrapped Dates

Okay so these are simple yet a ridiculously delicious combo, elegant looking and marvelous as a first course. You’ve got sweet, salty, crispy and unctuous exploding in your mouth. All you need is 4 ingredients to make these. I even experimented with them on the grandkids on a Shabbat meal (the adults loved it but I wondered if the kids would) and to my pleasure, it went over well with them too. So get your ingredients and let’s do this!

Now you can use walnut halves that are untoasted but I really urge you to toast them. It’s fast and you can toast them in the same oven you will bake the final product in and on the same pan, so go that extra mile.

Just heat the oven to 350 F/180 C (let it come to temp) and on the rimmed baking sheet pour the walnuts right on the pan. Bake for 10 minutes and remove to cool. In the meantime, pit your dates. I use medjool dates, they are the most delicious and meaty dates and add tremendously to the flavor.

Line them up like soldiers on a cutting board or parchment paper.

Once you’ve prepared all the dates, up the temp of the oven to 400 F/200 C. K. Now wrap each date with the pastrami like so:

You can decide how generous with the pastrami you wanna be – either wrap a whole piece around each stuffed date or half, as you wish. Now place the wrapped dates on a piece of parchment paper on the same pan you toasted your walnuts and pierce each one with a toothpick through the pastrami and date so it will stay in place.

Now take the maple syrup and pour a little splish over each date – it’s easy when they’re in a row – just sweep over them in rows, not too much.

Pop the tray into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. The pastrami gets a bit crispy, the dates get a bit “melty” and the scent will drive you nuts. If you use the large dates as I do, two dates is a perfect starter.

Pastrami Wrapped Dates

1 cup (125 grams) walnut halves

1 pound (453 grams) sliced pastrami

12-15 medjool dates

Maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C. When oven reaches the proper temperature, place the walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool. Set the temperature of the oven to 400 F/200 C, Pit the dates, and stuff with the toasted nuts (about 2 halves per date). Wrap each date with piece of pastrami and pierce each one with a toothpick to keep the pastrami in place. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Brush lightly with maple syrup. Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes. Serve hot or warm.