Grilled Bacon-Wrapped Dates

An excellent match of sweet, smoky, and salty.

Makes

As many dates as you want.

Ingredients

			whole dates
			whole blanched almonds
			bacon

Procedure

1. If necessary, remove the pits from the dates; try to keep them in one piece when you do this.


2. If necessary: blanch the almonds and remove the skins: Bring a small pot of water to boiling; add the raw almonds and cook for 45 to 60 seconds; drain and rinse with cold water; make a slit in the skins then remove as much of the skin as possible; dry the almonds.


3. Insert one almond into the center of a date; wrap with bacon, being sure to overlap the ends by at least the diameter of the date.


4. Put the dates on a broiling rack with the overlapped bacon on the bottom; leave some space between the dates.


5. Broil until the top of th bacon is crispy, probably about 5 minutes; turn the dates and broil until crispy.


6. Serve hot.

Notes

You can use whatever nuts you like, as long as the fit in the dates.

You can use regular dates or Medjools.

The dates are going to get very sweet, so use the smookiest bacon you can find that also has plenty of salt.

For regular dates you’ll need 1/3 to 1/2 a slice of bacon per date; for Medjools you might get away with half a slice per date but buy one slice per date just in case. There are worse things in life than having left-over bacon.

Rating

Difficulty:		Easy
Time:		Up to 1 hour (less with pitted dated and blanched almonds).
Precision:		1

Source

The Bacon Cookbook by James Villas.