Mega Yummo's Table Setting Design with a Menu made by me!
Chèvre-Stuffed Natural Delight Medjool Dates with Pomegranate Molasses & Chili Oil
L: Crostini with Brie Dates & Toasted Walnuts. R: My Food Description Skewers
In partnership with Natural Delights Medjool Dates and with the help of friends and family, we were very successful in our production for Mega Yummo’s very first Fall Luncheon featuring Natural Delights Medjool Dates with a menu of consisting 4 Hors d’oeuvres, 5-course meal with wine and craft beer pairings. Natural Delights sent me an insane amount of Natural Delights Medjool dates to use for my party. Aside from the budget, I had no constraints on how to prepare them for my fellow food bloggers and food enthusiast friends. Needless to say, I made sure to hook it up!
After some extensive research on how to use dates, I realized that Natural Delights Medjool dates are extremely versatile. Given that these Natural Delights Medjool are the largest of its kind which makes them very easy to stuff with just about anything, in my case, I did one stuffed with chorizo which seemed to be the hit of the party!
Big Wheel Provisions Bacon Wrapped Chorizo-Stuffed Natural Delight Medjool Dates w Piquillo Pepper Sauce
The majority said that out of all the Hors d’oeuvres, the Bacon Wrapped Chorizo-Stuffed Natural Delight Dates with Piquillo Pepper Sauce was the most memorable out of the 4 and I felt the same way.
Natural Delights Medjool dates are very rich and caramel-like. So I think the reason why everyone really enjoyed the Bacon Wrapped Chorizo-Stuffed dates was because the spicy flavors of the chorizo paired with the crispy cured bacon sitting in the warm pool of roasted red pepper sauce presented to be a wonderful marriage of sweet, savory and smoky all packed into one bite…or two. It was surprisingly delicious and I highly recommend giving this a try! It was so easy to make and it looks impressive too! (Recipe Coming soon!)
In addition, after sorting through pounds of Natural Delights, I came across some crushed ones and decided to save those to make syrup for my sweet soy sauce for my quail recipe and also for my rum date ice cream. I worked with my mom with coming up with a sauce that was completely sweetened by Natural Delights. My guests were surprised about the use of dates as a sauce… my answer to that…NOTHING GOES TO WASTE!
The quail was simply seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder with a little bit of sugar. My mom deep-fried them for me that morning and then tossed the birds in some minced garlic and shallots that were sautéed in butter and finished them off by topping them with her Natural Delights Medjool dates, sweet soy sauce. It was really delicious and was a nice little twist on the traditional Vietnamese recipe.
Normally, when you make a sweet soy sauce or teriyaki, you need A LOT of sugar which is not so great when you are diabetic like my dad. He really likes teriyaki sauce and my mom is happy that she can use her dates to make teriyaki sauce without adding sugar plus she knows it is better for him. Natural Delights are high in antioxidants and contain more potassium than bananas. Plus, little does my dad know that dates are also a great source of fiber!
With the other smashed Natural Delights and chopped them into small pieces. I cooked with dark rum and let it marinade over night. I re-churned my plain vanilla ice cream and added my rum dates at the last few minutes of churning. In addition, I made maple candied pecans from real maple syrup straight from Canada! I served each person a small scoop of ice cream to try and I underestimated the popularity of this ice cream!
Photo by Tastychomps.com. Semi-homemade Ice cream with Rum Dates with Maple Candied Pecans
For the most part, I think everyone enjoyed themselves. I think I left a very good impression on all of my guest. I ended the luncheon with a surprise party favor basket containing 1 box of Natural Delights Medjool Dates, 1 box of Natural Delights Roll Dates (Date candied rolled in either: Coconut, Pistachio, or Almonds), 1 small package of Olde Hearth Bread Company’s Granola, and the basket also contained 2 beers or two bottled sodas.
(By the way, I have much more to share with you so to be continued!)
Mega Yummo & Friends! Thanks Cinthia S. & Erica H. for coming!
Are you jealous? Do you have ideas of your own? Good! Because I have a FREE VIP PACKAGE GIVEAWAY for you!!
Tell me some of your holiday recipe ideas with Natural Delight Medjool Dates! Like, how you normally serve them?
Just tell me how you would enjoy these Natural Deligths.
The winner will receive a VIP package that will contain Natural Delights collection of Coconut date rolls, Almond date rolls, Pistachio date rolls and Medjool dates.
HERE IS HOW TO ENTER:
“Like” us on Facebook and enter in how you would prepare these Natural Delights Medjool Dates!
ELIGIBILITY:
Must be residing within the United States.
All entries must be submitted by 11/17/2011 12:00PM (Eastern Time).
SELECTION:
Winner will be selected at random. I will announce the winner on Facebook on 11/17/2011 by 6:00PM (Eastern Time).
Disclaimer: This was a sponsored event. Natural Delights compensated me to host this event but all opinions on this blog are 100% mine.
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omg i would make medjool dates pie like a pecan pie but with dates
mmm pecan pie! You know, I have not made a pie before. Sounds like I have to give it a try!
I would use them in muffins for breakfast.
Oh yeah! Heather Marie from Facebook shared a recipe blog on how to make raw brownies! http://mynewroots.blogspot.com/2011/04/raw-brownie.html. Pretty awesome! Plus, the photos are super delicious!