Lady & Larder's Roasted Dates

This elegant (and addictive) recipe comes from Marmee’s, Lady & Larder’s pop-up Carmel Valley wine bar. Luscious caramelized dates paired with bright Fruity olio are sophistication on a plate — nobody need know how simple they were to prepare!

Sarah and Boo Simms, the sisters extraordinaire behind the beloved Los Angeles epicurean institution, Lady & Larder, opened Marmee’s Wine Bar last spring in Carmel Valley. When Evan and I hosted an olio pop-up at Marmee’s last summer, there wasn’t a thing on the technicolored seasonal apèro menu we didn’t love, but these Roasted Dates were a revelation. With each bite, layers of dark, sweet fruit and bright verdant olio melted into into an all-encompassing, Rothko-color-field-esque sensory masterpiece. A strikingly simple recipe for it’s gustatory heft, we are so pleased to pass it along here.

Ingredients

• Medjool dates, whole

• Like Family Fruity olive oil

• Flaky sea salt

Steps

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Gently cut and remove pit from Medjool dates. Rather than cutting the date fully in half, slice the bottle of the date and use you fingers to pull the pit from the fruit. A word about DIY pitting — in short, it’s worth it. I tried to buy pre-pitted dates to save myself the additional step, but the pitted dates dry out faster and just don’t have the same beautifully gooey texture.

Place dates on sheet tray and toss in Fruity extra virgin olive oil, so they are full coated 

Roast for 5 minutes, or until puffed. The dates should look shiny and beginning to burst out of their skins.

Remove carefully, plate, and drizzle generously with olive oil oil and pinch of flaky salt.

Left to right: Sarah, Dani, Evan, and Boo, celebrating after the Like Family x Marmee’s olio pop-up last summer.