Category Archives: Fancy Pants

Sean and I had the chance to join some friends for a Spanish Tapas dinner party a couple of months ago. I decided to reprise an old recipe I’d made a couple of times before. Originally, the recipe I put together had a combination of apricot jam and brie stuffed into a wonton and fried.

For this party, I wanted to make the recipe a little more appropriate to ingredients you’d find in Spain, hence the dates and manchego cheese. These were successful because they really combine the sweet and savory well — plus they’re fried and you could fry a old shoe and it would be tasty.

Next time I might try adding some toasted almonds to add some extra crunch.

Date and Manchego Wontons
Serves: a bunch

1 package dried dates, roughly chopped
1 cup water
zest of one lemon
Juice of one-half lemon
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 lb. Manchego cheese, medium dice
1 package wonton wrappers
Oil, for frying

Combine dates, water, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a small pot. Mix and bring to a simmer. Let the mixture simmer until it’s a thick, jam-like paste. Remove from heat and let cool.

To assemble, put a teaspoon of the fig jam and a couple of piece of Manchego cheese in the center of a wonton wrapper. Fold in any creative way you’d like. Seal the edges together by brushing a little bit of water on each edge with a pastry brush or your finger. You can assemble these a day before you want to cook these. Store in the refrigerator on a cookie sheet in a single layer.

Heat oil to frying temperature — 350 -375 degrees. Once ready, drop the wontons into the hot oil a few at a time. Use a spider strainer to flip over to fry on all sides. Once golden brown all over, remove from the oil and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt to taste. It’s best to wait a few minutes before eating even though it’s really hard to wait — they’re like molten lava right out of the oil.