Gorgonzola Stuffed Dates Wrapped in Prosciutto
Posted on September 20, 2011 by Leslie Blythe No comments
Brave New World Page 5 Mimic
My daughter, Zoe, had an assignment in her English class to mimic page 5 of A Brave New World. Basically, write a run-on sentence…. This is what she wrote, which was about an event we catered a few weeks ago. It captures the intense heat of the day. Recipe follows….
Getting out the orange cutting board she began, as freshly French-tipped feet padded around the kitchen, to organize her work space; first the dates—the still pitted dates—with sweet brown skin sticking to her fingers she started slitting them down the middle, peeling the flesh away from its center—a quick wipe of the hands along the black apron that was tied around her waist—and prying out the sharp almond-shaped seed that gave it life—repeated thirty-nine times; continuing with the gorgonzola, cramming the crumbly cheese into the once occupied, now empty, cavity of the dates and again sealing it shut, all the while trying not to overload the delicate fruit but also trying not to cheat the guests out of a properly stuffed hors d’oeuvre; the party music began to drift in through the open doors and those bare feet had finally found shoes, classic shoes, shoes of white stain, shoes that screamed matrimony and as the bride passed the rotating fan (it was the hottest day of the year, after all) the scent of hair spray and perfume was pushed across the room along with the rest of the hot air and engulfed them; still more to add to the cheese filled dates was prosciutto, prosciutto that, with a skilled hand and a sharp knife, would find its way around all forty stuffed dates; trying to strip the streaky pieces of Italian ham from one another the newly-wrapped dates began to pile up along the aluminium foil-covered cookie sheet—the rising warmth of the pre-heated oven added to the sweltering kitchen but there was no time to cool off because the family members of the new couple started to wander through asking if they could be of any help but she said “no thank you, go on and have a good time”—stuffing her hand into a much-too-thin pot holder and thrusting the now full cookie sheet into the oven that felt way too similar to the outside air , the object of her attention no longer needed her as it began to bubble and caramelize and then the ten minutes of waiting, the ten minutes of fiddling with toothpicks, the ten minutes of no purpose were up and into the pot holder her trained hand went again and out of the oven they came, transformed into food (food worth paying for, that is) and whisked out on a silver platter and gone after only two words: “Hors d’oeuvre, sir?”.
Gorgonzola Stuffed Dates Wrapped in Prosciutto
pitted dates, split open
blue cheese (roquefort, gorgonzola, etc.)
1 pkg sliced prosciutto
Pre-heat oven to 350F.
Using a small spoon, stuff each date with 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of the cheese mixture.
Cut prosciutto into rectangles approximately 1 1/2″ x 3″. Wrap each stuffed date with a piece of prosciutto.
Place dates on a sheet pan, seam side down and bake for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.
