Stuffed Dates in Lettuce Wraps

Count on 2 -3 dates person as hors d'oeuvres

My sister-in-law, Kathy (Katie) Deamer, is an innovative and adventurous cook.  She follows her own muse in creating new and unique dishes.  In celebration of my 59th birthday, she created this recipe for dates stuffed with chicken livers wrapped with strips of lettuce.  The sweetness of the dates is thrice offset -- first by the succulence of the chicken liver, then by a tangy mustard sauce and then by the crispiness of the lettuce wrap.

Ingredients:

Good quality pitted dates (2-3 per person)
1/4 - 1/2 lb. whole chicken livers, separated into halves
Several large leaves of Boston/Bibb lettuce
1 TBS Coleman's dry mustard, moistened with enough water to make a spreadable paste

Preparation:

• Trim whole chicken livers and divide them in half (keeping each half in tact) and sauté in them in a few TBS chicken stock, butter. salt and pepper.
• Prepare the mustard.
• Remove lettuce leaves from the head (keeping them whole).  Wash and dry.  Then cut each leaf crosswise into 1" strands (about the  length of the date).  You should get about 3 -4 strips from one large lettuce. leaf.
• Open up the pitted date gently with a knife (along the slit used to remove the pit) and press it open gently to lie flat while keeping it whole.
• Place a 1/4" strip of cooked chicken liver on the center of the opened date.
• Smear a very small dab of prepared mustard on top of the chicken liver.
• Gently roll the stuffed date closed so that the chicken liver is completely enclosed.
• Wrap the stuffed date with a strip of lettuce several times around. 
• Arrange on a serving platter,  lettuce seam side down.