The magically delicious stuffed date recipe!

Yesterday I decided, since I clearly didn't already have enough going on, to make stuffed dates for a party I attended last night.  I posted about these elsewhere a while ago, but I never actually wrote up the recipe that came closest to those at Firefly in Las Vegas, the dish that started this whole obsession.

Basically, I altered this recipe to suit since I'm not naturally gifted in the culinary arts.

Bacon Wrapped Dates stuffed with bleu cheese and almonds, with a red wine reduction

1 pound bacon, cut in half lengthwise
1 pound Large Medjool dates, pitted
Whole almonds (I most often use whole raw almonds)
4 ounces bleu cheese, crumbled (I used a raw goat milk Roquefort- it was pretty and smelled like heaven... but am ridiculously inconsistent when selecting cheese for this recipe)

Preheat oven to 400°
Cut length wise slits into dates, remove pits and add almond and bleu cheese
Pinch closed
Wrap with half-slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick (which has been soaked in water)
Place seam side down on a wire rack inside a large parchment paper-lined casserole dish or cake pan
Bake 30-40 minutes, until bacon is crisp. If you don't have a wire rack, they may be cooked directly on parchment, but turn dates over after 20 minutes

May be served warm or at room temperature.

Also, since Firefly's stuffed dates are served in a red wine reduction (and I find them to be a bit "less than" without it):

The red wine reduction I made is really simple:
I use 2 cups of whatever red I have available (this time I used an Argentinian Malbec, because it's my red of the moment and always on hand) and reduce it down to about 3 ounces.

I place the dates on a platter deep enough to contain the liquid, drizzle them with the red wine reduction and crumble additional bleu cheese over them for serving. So, so yum.