Meat Cigars

Ingredients:
1 lb ground elk (beef or lamb are also great)
2 shallots
5 cloves of garlic
8 chopped dates
¼ cup parsley
¼ cup mint
Smoked paprika
Cinnamon
Turmeric
Cumin
Coriander
Salt
Pepper
Fillo Dough

Instructions:

1. Make sure you take your fillo dough out of the fridge to thaw before starting this recipe.

2. Saute finely diced shallots in butter until translucent, add your meat and saute until mostly cooked.

3. Add garlic and spices and cook for a couple minutes. Turn off heat and add your dates, stirring to fully incorporate. Finish by adding your herbs. Set meat mixture aside to cool.

4. While the meat is cooling make the toum; I used @forksandfoliage recipe for this.

5. Prepare the fillo dough by rolling out the layered sheetings and cutting them lengthwise down the middle. Set one half aside, and start rolling. Add a couple tablespoons of meat a couple inches from the end, roll up a bit, fold in the sides, and then finish rolling it up. Fillo dough is very delicate and will probably rip a little bit, but don’t worry it will come together fine. Keeping a damp cloth over the filo dough you aren’t using can help keep it from drying out.

6. Once you’ve rolled up all the cigars, put them on a sheet pan and bake at 350 for 25-30 min, or until nice and golden brown. Serve with the toum sauce.