You know how sometimes, you throw a party and plan for certain types of food, and something inevitably goes wrong?
I had bacon-wrapped dates on the brain, but sometimes, things don’t turn out as planned. But I had all these dates, and needed to figure out something to do with them. After digging through my fridge, I decided on my favorite back-up plan.
Throw shit in a pan and hope it turns out.
I’m nothing if not resourceful. In all reality, this is a magical life skill that I learned as a catering manager. Make do with what you have on hand and improvise. Quickly.
So I came up with this recipe. I had bought endive with the intent of doing something experimental…I just wasn’t sure what. As it turned out, my blue cheese and dates spread was magical and delicious – if you like blue cheese. Which I do. Brian, unfortunately, does not. So he hated it. Other blue cheese lovers enjoyed it, plus it looked kinda pretty on the plate, so I thought I’d share the recipe with you. If you try this, let me know what you think.
Ingredients:
- 16 oz Trader Joe’s Medjool dates
- 4 oz Amish blue cheese
- 4 oz apple cinnamon goat cheese
- 8-12 heads of Belgian endive
- 1 cup blueberries or other garnish of choice
Method:
- Dice dates into small pieces
- In a medium crock pot, heat dates for 15-20 minutes
- Crumble blue and goat cheeses into a separate bowl
- Clean and prepare endive by cutting off the bottoms and peeling the leaves off in layers
- After about 15 minutes, add cheese and cook until the cheese is melted, stirring occasionally
- Turn off heat and spoon mixture into endive leaves
- Chill overnight
- Serve plated in a circle with a colorful garnish in the center
I love how endive is pretty much the ideal vessel for snacky treats like this one. The bitterness of the endive (pronounced “n – dive” when I’m around normal people and “on deeve” when I’m trying to sound fancy.) was minimal and definitely offset by the sweetness of the dates.
It sounds yummy to me!
π
This looks unreal! I am a huge fan of both blue cheese and dates, so this is perfect for me π
http://www.skinnybelle.com/
Yes! You should try it!
This sounds so yummy! I LOVE blue cheese and I bet this was such a delicious combination of flavors!
It was one of those surprisingly delicious things that made me glad I’m an experimenter in the kitchen!
You had me at Blue Cheese. Sounds amazing!
I love hooking people with cheese. If I were a fish, I’d totally get hooked with cheese. Err…umm… Thanks!
This sounds so good! Also love the presentation. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks! I like to think presentation is my specialty. π
What a pretty display! Great snack for the holidays.
Yes! It would be a good holiday treat!