Foodie Friday -- September 27, 2013



 Welcome to Foodie Friday, where great food is always on the menu.

 

Today, we're on the porch, enjoying pomegranate juice and sausage stuffed dates.

 



Chorizo-Stuffed Bacon Wrapped Dates

adapted from a recipe in Taste of the South magazine

Yield: 12

 

1 T olive oil

4 oz chorizo sausage

1 shallot, chopped** (I added this, along with onion salt, garlic salt, and dash of Tabasco)

4 T cream cheese

1 T chopped parsley

1/4 t. crushed red pepper

6 slices bacon

12 large dates, pitted

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove casings from chorizo and chop sausage into fine bits. Pour olive oil into a large frying

pan and heat. Add sausage and shallots; cook until browned. This combo cooks fast, so watch it carefully. Drain sausage and set aside. (Reserve pan.)

 Place sausage/shallots in a small bowl. Add cream cheese, parsley, and pepper. Mix well.

Set aside.

 

Add bacon to the skillet and cook gently--don't brown.

Remove bacon, drain, and cut in half crosswise (I used scissors).

Sort through dates, selecting the softest ones. Don't use any date that's hardened.**

Stuff each date with the sausage mixture, about 1/2 teaspoon.

Wrap bacon strip around the date and spear with toothpick.

 

Place dates on a Pam-sprayed baking sheet.

Cook 5 minutes. Turn dates. Cook 5 more minutes or until bacon has browned.

Remove pan from oven and place dates on paper towels.

 

The dates are quite sweet and chewy, so be sure to use the softest ones.

Shallots are highly recommended.

Idea: try sausage in stuffed mushrooms.

 

I used the leftover chorizo mixture to make terrific meatballs. My family snapped them up before I could get a picture. You can make the meatballs by following the

above recipe, skipping the dates and bacon and adding 1 beaten egg and breadcrumbs.  Roll into balls and bake, turning the balls halfway through the 12 minute cooking period.

 

 

The other day, I received a box that was filled with live citronella plants. You can see them in the above photo. I hadn't ordered them, and the sweet person did not put a card or return address.

 

I removed the plastic casing and planted them right away. Citronella smells so fragrant,
and I haven't seen a single mosquito on my porch.

 

Whoever you are, thank you for the citronella plants!

I've almost finished decorating the porch for fall. Come take a look. 

 

 



 

 

 

 

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