Food and prop styling by Shaina Maiman
Food Prep by Leah Hamoui
Photography by Hudi Greenberger

These are little spherical bombs of flavor. The ground meat is seasoned like a pastrami roast, and the little cubes of actual pastrami interspersed between the meatballs really drive the whole theme home. These little guys bring the fireworks.

YIELDS 8 SMALL SKEWERS

• 1 lb (450 g) ground meat
• 1 egg
• 4 cubes frozen garlic
• 6 cubes frozen cilantro or 2 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp ground mustard
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp Montreal steak spice
• ½ tsp coarse black pepper
• ½ tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 heaping Tbsp maple syrup
• 5–6 slices pastrami, cut into small cubes
• 1 red onion, chopped (optional)

Mix ground meat with all the remaining ingredients except for the pastrami slices.

Preheat grill to high heat. Form small balls (around 1 Tbsp, or the size of a golf ball) and place gently on a skewer. Once the meatballs are on the stick, you can squeeze them a bit so they’re more tightly around the stick. Thread 1–2 pastrami cubes onto the skewer, followed by some red onion. Alternate until the sticks are full.

Place the skewers on the grill and grill for 3–4 minutes per side. Be gentle when flipping over. They will be easier to maneuver on a plancha (a grill with a solid cooking surface rather than a grate), but if you don’t have one, it’s also more than doable on grates.

(Originally featured in Family Table, Issue 849)