Hot Dates

We went to a progressive dinner and one of the appetizers really captured our taste buds, so we wanted the recipe. The person who had prepared them had to miss the dinner because of some family emergency (we all prayed it was not food poisoning) and no one knew exactly how the dish was prepared.

It was some dried fruit wrapped in bacon, with some kind of barbeque-ish sauce on it. There was a debate about whether the central item was a fig or a date or, since it was wrapped in BACON, whether it mattered what you put in there.

I went to the store and bought some mission figs and some pitted dates (both pictured here). While I was there, I noticed smoked almonds. What better to add to a bacon-wrapped, BBQ-sauce-covered item?

I cut bacon strips in half and wrapped each half-strip around either a fig or a date. In some of the pitted dates, I inserted a smokehouse almond (some of the larger dates I cut in half). Rather than use toothpicks to hold the bacon, I just overlapped the ends on the bottom, it worked great. I selected a tangy-smokey BBQ sauce, not too sweet, from the selection my sister sent me as a BBQ sauce of the month present. It didn't taste quite like what we had had at the party so I added a little balsamic vinegar and that made it pretty interesting (in a very good way). I covered the treats in sauce and put them in a 375 degree oven until the bacon was crisp.

It became clear that the best way was with dates and the almonds were a perfect addition (I know this is not an original idea). The figs came in handy for another recipe later.

I also found that a couple of dates and 6 smokehouse almonds make a tasty, satisfying and healthy snack at work.