These Kofta Stuffed Dates from Millennial Kosher are a little sweet, a little salty, and make the perfect appetizer!
If you like meat wrapped in more meat, then do I have a treat for you! Boy do I. You probably know Chanie of the blog Busy in Brooklyn, and if you do, you have probably seen her debut cookbook, Millennial Kosher!
Now I was exhausted working on a cookbook between missing out on my nightly minimum of nine hours of sleep and nursing the daily occasional hangover, but Chanie created her stunning cookbook with five small kids around her! I know, she’s pretty much superwoman. And speaking of super, let’s talk about these Kofta Stuffed Dates.
There were more than a few recipes in Millennial Kosher that jumped out at me (Lamb Moussaka Eggplant Boats, Babka Straws, for starters).
Chanie steps up the kosher game with twist on Jewish cooking (Chicken Liver Hummus!), innovative cooking techniques (Pineapple Rotisserie Chicken!) and new-to-kosher ingredients (Tempeh Fajita Lettuce Cups!) Whether or not you keep kosher, I think you’ll find some unique new recipes to add to your repertoire!
One thing Chanie has become known for is kosherizing popular foods, like bacon wrapped dates (often stuffed with blue cheese for extra non-kosherness). She stuffed hers with spiced kofta beef and used kosher beef fry, which is sort of like beef bacon, to wrap, but pastrami was much easier for me to get my hands on. So I tried the recipe with that, and they were great!
Tada! The pastrami gets all crispy and slightly sweet from the dates, which balances the spiced beef (I used turkey, because I had it) nicely.
These are totally party food. But, since I wasn’t having a party when these came out of the oven (unless you count me watching Queer Eye by myself a party, which I do) I popped 5-6 of these in my mouth for a filling lunch!
But next party, I will share for sure!
Kofta Stuffed Dates
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chuck
- 2 tablespoon grated shallot
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 1 ⁄2 teaspoon cumin
- 1 ⁄2 teaspoon allspice
- 1 ⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 ⁄8 teaspoon pepper
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts
- 24 Medjool dates
- 12 slices beef fry sliced in half lengthwise (I used thin slices of pastrami)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- In a large bowl, combine meat, shallot, garlic, parsley, spices, and pine nuts. Form the mixture into torpedo-shaped logs, each about 1 heaping tablespoon.
- Slice open dates lengthwise, making sure not to cut all the way through. Discard pits.
- Stuff dates with meat mixture. Wrap each date with a strip of beef fry; place on a rack set over a baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve warm.
Recipe reprinted with permission from Millennial Kosher by Chanie Apfelbaum Artscroll/Shaar; April 2018
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