Mojacarmagazine.com Issue 14 Page 33
Chorizo Stuffed Dates
Spanish Christmas Cookies
I made this Spanish tapa in my international class at the Cordon Bleu. This is not only a great Spanish Christmas food recipe but they are easy to make, can be made well ahead of time, and are fast to cook so you can make a bunch of them and still have fun at your party.
Pestiños are flakey and delicate Spanish Christmas cookies from Andalucía, in southern Spain. They are very easy to make and the ingredients are probably already in your pantry – simply flour, anise seeds or flavouring, white wine and oil. Roll, cut and fry. Once fried, dip them in warm honey and enjoy!
Prep Time: 0 hour, 45 mins,Cook Time: 0 hour, 15 mins
Ingredients:
3 1/2 oz (100 ml) olive oil rind of 1 lemon
4 tsp (15 gr) anise seeds (optional)
3 1/2 oz (100 ml) white wine
2 oz (60 ml) anise liqueur
2 cups (250 gr) unbleached enriched white flour
2 cups (500 ml) (approximately) canola oil for frying
2 cups (250 gr) honey 1 Tsp water
Preparation:
Cut peel off lemon. In a 8 to 10-inch pan, fry lemon peel in olive oil until it turns brown. Remove pan from heat and add anise seeds. Stir and allow oil to cool. Remove and discard lemon peel.
Measure and pour the white wine and anise liqueur into a large mixing bowl. Add the cooled oil with seeds and the flour. Mix thoroughly until the dough forms a ball. (Add a few teaspoons more flour if the dough is too wet and sticky.) Cover with a kitchen towel and let sit in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Generously flour a cutting board. Place dough on board and roll out to the thickness of a coin (about 1/8-inch thick). Using a pizza cutter, cut into strips about 1-inch wide and 2-inches long (2.5 cm by 5 cm).
Pour oil into a 10-inch frying pan and heat. When oil is hot, fry pestinos in oil until golden and drain on a paper towel.
Mix honey and water in a small sauce pan and heat on low. Using a fork, dip pestinos into honey a few at a time and place on serving platter.
4 tsp (15 gr) anise seeds (optional)
3 1/2 oz (100 ml) white wine
2 oz (60 ml) anise liqueur
2 cups (250 gr) unbleached enriched white flour
2 cups (500 ml) (approximately) canola oil for frying
2 cups (250 gr) honey 1 Tsp water
Preparation:
Cut peel off lemon. In a 8 to 10-inch pan, fry lemon peel in olive oil until it turns brown. Remove pan from heat and add anise seeds. Stir and allow oil to cool. Remove and discard lemon peel.
Measure and pour the white wine and anise liqueur into a large mixing bowl. Add the cooled oil with seeds and the flour. Mix thoroughly until the dough forms a ball. (Add a few teaspoons more flour if the dough is too wet and sticky.) Cover with a kitchen towel and let sit in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Generously flour a cutting board. Place dough on board and roll out to the thickness of a coin (about 1/8-inch thick). Using a pizza cutter, cut into strips about 1-inch wide and 2-inches long (2.5 cm by 5 cm).
Pour oil into a 10-inch frying pan and heat. When oil is hot, fry pestinos in oil until golden and drain on a paper towel.
Mix honey and water in a small sauce pan and heat on low. Using a fork, dip pestinos into honey a few at a time and place on serving platter.
Ingredients:
2 ounces of Spanish Chorizo sausage 12 pitted Medjool dates 6 slices of bacon 1 beaten egg 1 cup of breadcrumbs 1 cup of flour Toothpicks Vegetable oil for frying
Preparation:
Peel the skin off of the chorizo sausage and slice the sausage in half. Slice the sausage halves into ¼ inch slices.
Slice one side of the date lengthwise. Fit one slice of the chorizo sausage inside each date. Close the date the best you can around the sausage bit. Do this for each of the twelve dates.
Cut each slice of bacon in half. Wrap the bacon around the date. Pin the bacon onto the date with a toothpick. Dust the dates with flour. Dip each date in the egg mixture and coat it with breadcrumbs. At this point, you can cover the dates with plastic wrap and store them overnight in your refrigerator.
When you are ready to cook the dates, pour about 1 ½ inch of oil into a pan. Heat the oil over a medium flame until it reaches at least 350 degrees. If you do not have a deep fry thermometer, just wait until you can feel the heat coming off the oil by holding your hand over, not in, the oil. Drop one date in the oil. If it starts to fry right away, you know your oil is ready.
Fry the dates three or four at a time. Let them drain on a rack that has been placed in a sheet pan. Eat while still warm
2 ounces of Spanish Chorizo sausage 12 pitted Medjool dates 6 slices of bacon 1 beaten egg 1 cup of breadcrumbs 1 cup of flour Toothpicks Vegetable oil for frying
Preparation:
Peel the skin off of the chorizo sausage and slice the sausage in half. Slice the sausage halves into ¼ inch slices.
Slice one side of the date lengthwise. Fit one slice of the chorizo sausage inside each date. Close the date the best you can around the sausage bit. Do this for each of the twelve dates.
Cut each slice of bacon in half. Wrap the bacon around the date. Pin the bacon onto the date with a toothpick. Dust the dates with flour. Dip each date in the egg mixture and coat it with breadcrumbs. At this point, you can cover the dates with plastic wrap and store them overnight in your refrigerator.
When you are ready to cook the dates, pour about 1 ½ inch of oil into a pan. Heat the oil over a medium flame until it reaches at least 350 degrees. If you do not have a deep fry thermometer, just wait until you can feel the heat coming off the oil by holding your hand over, not in, the oil. Drop one date in the oil. If it starts to fry right away, you know your oil is ready.
Fry the dates three or four at a time. Let them drain on a rack that has been placed in a sheet pan. Eat while still warm
