Best Pastrami Reuben Appetizers Recipes

MINI REUBENS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven's broiler.
• Arrange cocktail rye slices on a baking sheet. Top each one with about 2 teaspoons of thousand island salad dressing, then fold about 1/2 slice of corned beef to fit the bread, and lay over the dressing. Place a small amount of sauerkraut over the meat, then top with 1/4 slice of the Swiss cheese, or a slice about as big as the bread.
• Broil for 3 to 5 minutes, until cheese is melted. Serve warm.

PASTRAMI RUEBEN AKA "THE RACHEL"

Steps:

• For the dressing: Combine the mayonnaise, chili sauce, sour cream, horseradish, lemon juice, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, smoked paprika, dill pickles and shallots in a food processor until thoroughly mixed. Do not over blend, you still want to see some texture. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside or refrigerate in a covered jar until serving time.
• For the sandwich build: Combine half of the dressing with the sauerkraut and toss. Place 1 slice of cheese on a piece of bread. Pile the meat high on the cheese, top with an additional slice of cheese, some of the sauerkraut mixture and the second piece of bread. Butter the outsides of the sandwich. Heat a heavy-bottomed nonstick skillet or griddle pan over medium-low heat. Add the sandwiches, cover with a heatproof bowl and griddle until golden and gooey in the middle, 3 to 4 minutes. Flip, cover and let cook until golden all around, another 3 minutes. Serve the extra dressing on the side.
• Cook's Note: I love getting a whole piece of pastrami, uncut, from Fumare's in Chicago. If you have a favorite deli, try getting a whole piece and cutting it yourself; the meat will stay nice and tender and you can mix the bark from the end cut with the meatier middle. You'll fall in love with pastrami all over again.

PASTRAMI REUBEN MELT

Steps:

• Oil a grill or grill pan and preheat it to 400 degrees F.
• Steam pastrami and sauerkraut together in a double boiler. Place tortillas on hot grill and divide half of the Swiss on top of the tortillas. Cook until cheese is melted. Divide the pastrami and sauerkraut mixture evenly on top of the melted cheese. Squirt Russian dressing evenly over each tortilla. Divide the remaining Swiss among the tortillas. Fold tortillas in half and cook until cheese is melted. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into wedges. Serve immediately.
• Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Transfer to a squirt bottle before using on tortillas.

REUBEN SANDWICH

Steps:

• Spread each slice of bread with thousand island dressing. Top 4 of the bread slices with sauerkraut, cheese and pastrami. Place remaining bread slices on sandwich. Spread margarine on the outsides of each sandwich.
• Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Grill until browned, then turn and grill until heated through, and cheese is melted.

PASTRAMI/REUBEN PIZZA MASH-UP

Steps:

• Place a pizza stone or an inverted rimmed baking sheet on the bottom rack of the oven and preheat to 500 degrees F.
• Dust a piece of parchment paper lightly with flour. Stretch or roll out the pizza dough into a 12-inch round on the parchment, then transfer the dough on the parchment to a pizza peel or another inverted rimmed baking sheet.
• Brush the pizza all over with the butter and sprinkle with the caraway seeds. Top with half of the Swiss cheese, then sprinkle over 1/4 cup of the sauerkraut. Add the pastrami, overlapping the slices, then top with the remaining slices of Swiss cheese.
• Slide the pizza on the parchment onto the pizza stone or rimmed baking sheet and bake until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Drizzle the pizza with Russian dressing and top with the remaining 1/2 cup sauerkraut and the gherkins.