Renee Erickson's Sautéed Dates

Though these sautéed dates are a sound match for a bubbly drink (Erickson serves them next to a pile of ricotta), Molly Wizenberg also likes to eat the dates over yogurt for breakfast. You could also pit them first and add them to salad or even scrambled or fried eggs, a comforting Middle Eastern breakfast. But my favorite riff is how my friend Nozlee Samadzadeh served them at a dinner party celebrating the recipes celebrated by Wizenberg on Orangette. Nozlee pitted the dates before sautéing them, then spilled them and their oil over a pool of Greek yogurt that had been thinned with more olive oil. It was a thing of beauty, cool yogurt against warm dates and everywhere good oil and salt, that we were able to sweep up all together with slices of baguette. Adapted slightly from A Boat, A Whale, and A Walrus (Sasquatch Books, 2014).