This recipe was handed on to me by a well-meaning, and hopeful friend. I wasn’t sure if the combination would work but around this time of year both dates and blue cheese are in abundance (often unintended inhabitants of the larder, originating as unplanned for gifts) so it seemed worth a try. The marriage of sweet and salty had potential I reasoned.

Reader, I was grateful to my friend. These dead-easy canapés were an immediate hit, one appreciative guest nearly wolfing down an entire plate. Others clamoured for a repeat performance the following evening – a request I was able to easily satisfy as they are easy to reheat – not like many toast-based canapés which go soggy.

This is what to do:

Recipe for dates and blue cheese enveloped in bacon

Makes about 16

• 320g/11 oz medjool dates
• 115g/1 cup/4 oz crumbled blue cheese – fourme d’ambert, stitchelton, Roquefort…whatever you have to hand – this is a good way of using up elderly, leftover blue cheese
• 8 rashers of streaky bacon
• Toothpicks or pickle forks to serve

1. Remove the stone, and any woody stalk from the dates by slitting lengthways with a sharp knife and easing out.
2. Stuff the remaining cavity with a generous teaspoon of the blue cheese.
3. Cut the bacon rashers in half widthwise, and, using the knife, stretch each out to make it a bit thinner.
4. Wrap each piece of bacon around each stuffed date
5. Warm a non-stick frying pan and put each wrapped date, seam down, onto the pan – get the dates sizzling, and turn to cook on all sides. By dry-frying seam down first you’re effecting a sort of spot-welding technique – it will help to glue the bacon ends together. Cooking the whole will take five minutes or so.
6. Serve with toothpicks or pickle forks

This post is dedicated to Jordan Eggar