Stuffed Dates

[cougars_catnip]

Sweet, salty, smoky , creamy and bursting with flavors. :) yumm.

 

Stuffed Dates

 

8 Medjool dates

8 almonds

1/4 c. crumbled blue cheese

4 strips of bacon, cut in half

black pepper to taste

 

Preheat oven to 425 deg. F

Slit dates and replace pit with an almond. Tightly stuff in about 1/2  tablespoon of cheese. Roll up date as tightly as possible in bacon and secure with a toothpick. Place dates on a nonstick cookie sheet or on parchment paper lined sheet, and bake for about 20 minutes until bacon is crispy and fat is rendered. Sprinkle with pepper and serve.

 

220 calories 7 g fat 300 mg sodium

Cook's Notes:  I  use a cider cured bacon for this.  You can also substitute spiced candied pecans or different flavors of almonds for the plain almonds.
 

Comments

[zero_pixel_count]

Oooh, I have some dates knocking around I should do something with. Is it streaky bacon you use?

[cougars_catnip]

I use regular breakfast style bacon, although I do like using the Apple Cidar cured bacon.

[zero_pixel_count]

*blank look* - wait, transatlantic translation problem possibly? What I was trying to ask about is the cut, not the cure (I'm a bit of a 'one cure to rule them all' type with bacon honestly) - do you mean the cut where (if it didn't become bacon) it would've been a chop, or the one where it would've been belly pork?

[greenbirds]

I suspect the OP means streaky bacon, which is what we USians simply call bacon. The other sort we call "Canadian bacon."

I remember being briefly baffled by The Naming of Bacon when I spent a semester in the UK. (This was obviously before I became a vegetarian.:P )

Hope this helps!

[cougars_catnip]

Not canadian bacon. :) Streaky bacon huh? Never heard it called that but the name makes sense I guess. :grin: Ahh the joy of English. but yes that is the type I mean. Comes from the belly, with streaks of fat and meat.

CC

[zero_pixel_count]

Divided by a common language, as they say... This is where I get mine, and as you can see, just 'bacon' here usually means what we call back (or short back) bacon and you call Canadian. But when I grew up you never just said 'bacon' at the butchers, it was always back or streaky.

...I suppose I'd have realised if I'd actually thought properly, because wrapping a prune in a bit of back bacon wouldn't work too well I don't think. It's like - ooh, just to confuse you even further! :D It's like pigs in blankets, which here means cocktail-size sausages wrapped in streaky bacon and means something else to you I think? (forgot what)

[cougars_catnip]

Pigs in a blanket = breakfast sausages wrapped up in pancakes. :) Very tasty breakfast.

CC

[zero_pixel_count]

...you know, it has just occurred to me to wonder what they call the bacon cuts in Canada. :D

[cougars_catnip]

belly pork. This type.. http://www.amazon.com/Nueskes-Applewood-Smoked-Bacon-Sampler/dp/B0002IF5CI/ref=sr_1_46?ie=UTF8&qid=1335148567&sr=8-46

Variations

[cougars_catnip]

Oh ya know, a thought just occured, you could substitute spiced candied pecans for the almond or use any of the flavored almonds in this for a variation.

CC

Re: Variations

[zero_pixel_count]

Hmm, yeah, thinking about it I don't have any almonds. Or pecans for that matter, at least I don't think I do - they're the ones that look a bit like walnuts, right? *checks nut bowl* oh, no, wait, I do have almonds after all. Also some hazelnuts, which being much beloved of pigs, ought to taste good with them, if folk wisdom is to be believed!

Re: Variations

[cougars_catnip]

you could certainly try it with hazelnuts. :grin: or walnuts. Let us know how it turns out. :)

CC