I was on the hunt recently for an easy but punch-me-in-the-mouth tasty appetizer for a small dinner we were having for some friends at our apartment in Florence, Italy. I know bacon recipes seem to be on the upswing after a recent myth surrounding bacon production in the United Kingdom and United States with a national outcry {yes really} called “Aporkalypse”. I was not aware that bacon was ‘food’ to so many people ;-). Kidding! Slate magazine spells out the humorous scenario here and Huffington Post made some great Bacon gif’s to get those affected by the ‘trauma’ here. One thing to remember when starting a recipe like this abroad is that obviously not all bacon is created equal – in the US we tend to use what the Brit’s call ‘streaky bacon’ whereas their bacon for us resembles Canadian bacon.

In Italy you have a few options – you can go to the meat section and ask for pancetta affiumicata sliced “American style” which I have done before. Or you can head to your closest esselunga (I didn’t find this at Coop) and get the bacon already sliced in the pancetta section. The one I get is the same as the photo below.

My idea for the appetizer included taking  figs, dried or not, and stuffing them with goat cheese, walnut, date and wrapped them in bacon. I got this idea from a party at a friend’s house where they served serving bacon-wrapped dates and I made an excuse every five minutes to slink by the table and grab more, they were so yummy! I promise you this is the easiest recipe imaginable and everyone will love them {and you}. People who don’t even know what a ‘date’ is will savor every bite.

Bacon-wrapped dried figs stuffed with goat cheese, walnut & dates. 

fichi secchi ripieni di formaggio di capra, noci e datteri avvolti con pancetta

Ingredients: 

• Bacon {streaky bacon or pancetta affiumicata}
• Toothpicks {stuzzicadenti}
• dried figs {fichi secchi}
• goat cheese {formaggio di capra}
• walnuts {noci}
• dates {datteri}

Preheat the broiler before setup. Cut the dried figs in half and do the same with the bacon. Stuff each fig-half with goat cheese and press in the walnuts and date. I usually cut up the dates and nuts into small pieces beforehand to make it easier. Wrap each stuffed fig-half with a half-slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Line them on a medium baking sheet {I covered mine with carta al forno – baking paper}. Broil them for about five or 10 minutes until the outside is crispy, super easy!

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