as much as I love a good meal, a killer appetizer spread will always steal the show for me. these pastrami knishes are the perfect appetizer for any holiday feast, dinner party or the ultimate game day snack.

i know good pastrami doesn’t come cheap but these knishes are insanely addictive so make a lot - I don’t make the rules.

keep in mind the pastrami is much easier to work with when it’s warm. if you let the pastrami sit in the fridge before making these, i suggest microwaving it to thaw slightly before you begin this process. you’ll notice if you attempt to make these with cold pastrami, the slices stick together, making it really hard to form neat stacks.

make extra & freeze

these freeze really easily! make extra and freeze for a future date! if you’re planning to freeze some to serve another time, just skip the egg wash step before you slice these. place your slices on a baking sheet and cover in saran wrap before sticking in the freezer - do not bake before freezing. after 1 hour in the freezer, feel free to transfer the knishes to a gallon zip lock bag to take up less space in your freezer.

ingredients

knishes

2 lbs pastrami

6 sheets puff pastry

1 large egg

deli mustard (dijon or spicy brown works as well)

russian dressing

1 cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup ketchup

1/4 cup relish

2 tablespoon minced shallot

method

step 1

preheat oven to 400°F. line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. in a small bowl, beat 1 large egg and set aside.

step 2

while your pastrami is warm and easier to work with, stack pastrami slices on top of one another until stacks are 1.25'“ in height. continue making stacks of pastrami until you run out of meat.

step 3

let your puff pastry thaw and brush sheets with thin layer of mustard.

step 4

one at a time, take a stack of pastrami and place on puff pastry sheet, lining the pastrami stack to one corner of your puff pastry. cut off the excess puff pastry along the bottom of your pastrami - you will be rolling the pastrami into a log, so be sure you are cutting the shorter side, not the longer side. At this point, your pastrami stack should be the same height as your puff pastry. carefully roll your pastrami stack into a log with the puff pastry - folding it over 2x. trim excess puff pastry. seal edges of puff pastry together with egg wash and pinch.

step 5

brush remaining egg over puff pastry logs. slice your logs into 1/2” thick pieces and place on baking sheet leaving 1 inch between each slice. bake until golden brown. approximately 20 minutes

step 6

while pastrami knishes bake, combine mayonnaise, ketchup, relish and shallot in a bowl and set aside

step 7

remove knishes from oven and serve with homemade russian dressing and dijon mustard for dipping