Herby Stuffed Dates

I think Selim has a new favorite herb. Recently he’s been gravitating towards tarragon whenever it is a possible option to add to whatever we’re making (see our last post – Easy Herbed Ham & Cheese Quiche). So when I said I wanted to make some herby, savory stuffed dates, that’s what he suggested. I was inspired by Alia’s easy Ramadan date recipes, where she used chives in a similar manner.

Awhile back somehow we learned about the use of dates in Middle Eastern culture during pregnancy. Dates are healthy and good source of energy. But also, tradition holds that eating dates towards the end of pregnancy eases labor. The medical community has noticed – several studies have supported the idea that date consumption late in pregnancy decreases the duration of labor, lessen need for labor augmentation, and increases the likelihood of spontaneous labor. These studies are small and not randomized, so not perfect by any means. But given that there’s no harm in date consumption – we’ve decided to try to incorporate them into our diet a little more at the end of Ally’s pregnancy. Hence, we were inspired to bring a date appetizer to our family’s gathering this weekend!

Herby Stuffed Dates

Ingredients: 

• ~50 large pitted dates
• 1/2 lb feta
• 1 tbsp of the feta brine
• 5 turns of fresh ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped

Instructions: 

1. Open up all the dates halfway. If you bought already pitted dates, this shouldn’t be too difficult.
2. Place the remaining ingredients in a food processor and blitz until smooth.
3. Stuff the feta filling into each date. We found that using a butter knife was easiest, though a piping bag would probably be even easier than that!
4. Refrigerate until serving.