Cookbooks are one of my favorite things. I love reading them on my couch on Sunday afternoons and getting recipe inspiration for Sunday dinner and weekday meals. I love reading fiction and news on my kindle but there just isn’t a substitute for a hard copy of a cookbook with its glossy pages and beautiful pictures.
I recently acquired a copy of the Portlandia Cookbook. It’s not a cookbook I would normally head for, but Portland is one of my favorite cities, after Seattle of course, and I like watching Portlandia on Netflix when I’m doing chores on the weekend, so I decided to check out the Portlandia Cookbook not really knowing what to expect (Would it be funny? Would the recipes be directly from the show?).
The cookbook definitely has pictures and funny antidotes from the show but as far as I could tell most of the recipes weren’t taken straight from the show. Most of the recipes were of the spirit I would expect from watching the show, somewhat complicated and with some obscure ingredients and funny back stories. It was an entertaining read overall. My one complaint was that there seemed to be more pictures of the characters from the show then there were of the recipes. But I guess that’s what you get when you’re trying to make a funny cookbook and honestly it didn’t really make a difference when I was making the recipes I’ve tried so far, there was just less of an “oooh that looks good” effect while reading the book and more of an LOL effect.
While reading through the book for the first time, a recipe for stuffed manchego-filled dates caught my eye. A few days later, sweaty from Zumba, I walked to the PCC near my house to pick up the ingredients I needed to make the stuffed dates. The recipe makes 24 but I scaled that down quite a bit considering I was just making them for myself. Guys, I have to tell you, they were great. Sweet and salty and they would make a great appetizer for entertaining. Also, they’re super simple and quick to make, which is always a win in my book!
RECIPE FOR STUFFED MANCHEGO-FILLED DATES
(from the Portlandia cookbook)
Ingredients:
24 Medjool dates
1/2 cup finely chopped Serrano ham (I used pancetta because I couldn’t find Serrano ham)
1/2 cup shredded Manchego cheese
24 Marcona almonds
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350degrees Fahrenheit.
While oven is preheating, make a small slash in each date and remove the pits, keeping them as in tact as possible.
Fill the cavities of the dates with a mixture of the ham and cheese and one almond each.
Close slightly and transfer to baking sheet. Bake until warm and the cheese is melted, about 8-10 minutes.
Enjoy!
I received this book from the Blogging for Books program in exchange for this review. All opinions are obviously my own.
2 comments:
I LOVE dates! I'm going to have to try this recipe. Thanks for posting. :)
Yum. Yum. Yum. I've realized over the years that I like dates stuffed with just about anything.
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