Bacon Wrapped Dates with Romesco Sauce
Sweet Medjool dates are stuffed with nutty Manchego cheese & smoked almonds, wrapped with savory bacon and served with a smoky sweet Romesco sauce.
Servings: 24 dates
Ingredients
For the dates
- 24 Medjool dates, pitted (about 12 oz)
- 4 oz Manchego cheese, cut into 24 small rectangles (to fit inside of dates)
- 24 smoked almonds, whole
- 12 slices center cut bacon, cut in half crosswise
For the Romesco sauce
- 2 teaspoon olive oil
- ¼ cup yelllow onion, diced (about ¼ of a medium onion)
- 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 1 12 oz jar roasted red peppers, drained and roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoon almond butter
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- pinch cayenne pepper (more or less to taste)
- 2 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
Instructions
For the dates
- Preheat oven to 375ºF. Stuff one piece of Manchego and 2 almonds inside of each date and press closed. Wrap with a half piece of bacon, secure with a toothpick and lay on its side on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with all dates.
- Bake for 12 minutes on first side. Remove pan from oven, flip each date over, turn the pan 180 degrees, and bake for another 10-12 minutes, until bacon is fully cooked. Remove from oven and transfer dates to a paper towel lined plate to drain excess bacon fat.
For the Romesco sauce
- While the dates bake, make the Romesco sauce. In a small pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sauté until softened and golden, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a blender or food processor. Add roasted red peppers, almond butter, paprika, cayenne, and more salt and pepper to taste (I usually add about ¼ teaspoon more salt and a few healthy grinds of pepper). Blend or process until smooth. Add parsley and stir to combine.
- Drizzle a little Romesco sauce on a serving platter, arrange dates on top and sprinkle with a little extra parsley. Serve extra Romesco sauce on the side for dipping.
Notes
The dates actually stay wrapped in the bacon pretty nicely without the toothpick, but the toothpicks are a nice little handle for both flipping the dates and for serving them, so I recommend using them.
These are a great make ahead appetizer to keep on hand! Make up a bunch of the stuffed/wrapped dates and place them on a tray in the freezer (uncooked). Once they are frozen firm, transfer to a zip top bag and return to the freezer to store. When you're ready to serve them, just pull them out, place them on the baking sheet and pop them in the oven! They take a little longer to bake from frozen but just keep an eye on the bacon and cook until it reaches your desired level of crispiness.