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Recipes with Dates


FaustianBargain

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I came across an apicius recipe for stuffed dates...blanch almonds..pit the dates and stuff the almonds into the dates...honey, rosewater and saffron boiled together and the dates are left soaking in the syrup...after 24 hours, remove the dates from the syrup..sprinkle sugar over the dates...they keep for a while..

romans...sua cuique voluptas

what else can be done with dates?

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I spent the better part of the morning lounging in the backyard with a huge sticky pile of ripe Saudi dates on a tray in front of me thinking about the very same thing. When I lived in the U.A.E., dates were cooked into everything, but my favorites were a rich date cake with walnuts (like a gooey fudge brownie with a wallop of molasses and butterscotch flavors where the chocolate would otherwise be-- worthless however unless you have excellent dates) and basmati rice with dates, caramelized onionc, almons and saffron. I also like dates roasted with orange peel and stuffed with mascarpone, and Claudia Fleming has a recipe for roasted dates with coconut sorbet and candies coconut. Dates are awesome mixed with amonds or pecans as a filling for baklava, and they marry well with other Middle Eastern flavors like cardamom, anise, honey, orange flower water and rosewater. Date cookies. Date shakes. And I love a good oatmeal bar with a date filling. They make great cinnamon-pecan date bars at Pasqual's here in Santa Fe.

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Date shakes. Particularly coffee date shakes. Yum.

Yeah- dates go really well with coffee. Adding cardamom to the combo makes it even better, I think. For years, my afternoon snack was a tiny cup of amber-hued cardamom qahweh (Arabic coffee) and a fistful of soft, half-golden half-chestnut brown dates just picked from our garden.

We used to stuff quail and goat with dried dates all the time. Earthier, gamier meats work best with the caramel-like nuances of the dates, in my opinion.

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Verjuice,i've been downing the most delicious 'date syrup'with a lot of things.would you know if this syrup is made from the sap of the date palm or from the fruit?

Date syrup is made from the dates themselves, along with date paste and liquid date sugar. Date sugar is made by pulverizing dried dates.

In the U.A.E., there is a Saudi Arabian franchise called Bateel and they have the most amazing date confections; dates molded into truffles with nuts or chocolate or coconut or whatever. They're just beautiful. They also make a sparkling date champagne that you'd probably love if you dig date syrup.

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  • 3 years later...
  • 5 years later...

I have no real experience with chopped dried dates, but at $4/lb at Aldi's, there's strong incentive to change that. However, outside perhaps of a modified plum pudding, I'm short for inspiration. I've had some lovely fig jams made with black tea - perhaps I could finagle something similar?

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You can use them in bran muffins, other muffins, pancakes, etc. There are several recipes for date puddings but I tried this one last year and it is excellent.

You can also substitute them for any dried fruit in steamed puddings.

My Moroccan cookbooks have several recipes for chicken with dates - I found this one a few years ago and have prepared it several times for guests - it is a great buffet dish because it just gets better as it keeps warm in a heated buffet server. I set out rice, couscous and broad noodles over which to serve it.

However, the chopped dates do dry out more rapidly than whole dates. If this happens, don't soak them, steam them, which will rehydrate and soften them perfectly without adding excess liquid to your recipe.

A Lebanese friend serves a dish made with lamb and dates - I don't care for lamb so have never made it but people who like lamb say it is very good, very rich.

Edited by andiesenji (log)

"There are, it has been said, two types of people in the world. There are those who say: this glass is half full. And then there are those who say: this glass is half empty. The world belongs, however, to those who can look at the glass and say: What's up with this glass? Excuse me? Excuse me? This is my glass? I don't think so. My glass was full! And it was a bigger glass!" Terry Pratchett

 

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Twice in the past couple months I've prepared Paula Wolfert's recipe for lamb tagine with dates. For the most recent batch I had the butcher cut a whole lamb shoulder into about a dozen chunks.

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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  • 1 year later...

My husband just helped a man from our church with a big move. The other two people who offered to help never showed up. He works as management at a local date farm and as a gesture of thanks has sent us an incredibly large amount of dates and other produce. I recognize the medjool and deglets, but will have to ask about the rest. There are dates stuffed with almonds, rolled in coconut, etc. Plus a bunch of citrus and grapes. I will never be able to eat all these dates in the near future. I can gift some, but am looking forideas such as something i can put up in cans maybe? Date bars and bread come to mind also. I have no idea how to best store them. What savory dishes come to mind for you?

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