Two Fruit Friends

(Quit laughing, T)  

They are Mr. Fig and Ms. Date and both can provide a new twist on some classical  combinations.

Example:  a "white" pizza (mozzarella/ricotta) with thick bacon chunks and splatterings of fig jam can make you sit up straight.  Tin Roof Bistro actually calls it Pig and Fig Pizza. 

Dates are agreeable to being split, pitted and stuffed with - oh, let's see - bleu cheese?  Bacon wrapped?  Maybe an almond with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar?

And then I read a recipe for "Date Ketchup."  Say what?  A woman wrote in to Bon Appetit looking for a recipe for spiced lamb sliders with date ketchup.  You can keep the lamb, spiced or not, and here's the ketchup* recipe.

DATE KETCHUP
1 T olive oil
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 cup ketchup (presumably tomato - they didn't bother to say)
1 cup Medjool dates, pitted and chopped
11/2 cup pale lager (Longboard comes to mind)
2 T apple cider vinegar
Pepper to taste

heat the oil in a small sauce pan, sauté the onion until it begins to brown, then add everything else BUT the vinegar and stir as needed for 20 to 25 minutes.  Remove from the heat and add the vinegar carefully.  Puree the whole thing in a blender and let cool. 

*""Ketchup" is defined as "A sauce made chiefly from tomatoes, vinegar, sugar and spices."  Yeah, I was wondering, too.