AKA, my family’s favourite hors d’oeuvre when they come to my place. Yes, the charcuterie board is delicious, packed with great cheeses and all the fixings but it’s the Pigs in Bacon Blankets that I can never seem to make enough of. Thankfully, they’re so quick and easy to prepare that they’re honestly a pleasure to make and eat!
My guess is that people like these so much because they’re bite-sized, include bacon and they’re familiar; a cross between a classic pig in a blanket and those sticky-sweet cocktail sausages.
Although these seem like a meat-lover’s dream… I mean, they are. It’s pork wrapped in more pork for heaven’s sake. But they’re so much more than that. They’re also refined and quite pretty, once you add the other stuff to it like the delicious, richly glossy pomegranate molasses glaze, the fresh herbs and toasted pistachios.
For an extra pop of coulour and sweet tartness, you could even add a sprinkle of jewel-like pomegranate seeds. We eat with our eyes after all.
What about the taste? Unlike the aforementioned cocktail sausages, the Pomegranate molasses is sweet and a little tart, so you’re not getting this one-note, wall of sweetness making it far more interesting. The dill and parsley add freshness and the pistachios offer a roasted flavour and crunch adding some welcomed texture.
Finding the right sausages – A thinner sausage like a chipolata type works best. You can also use Barese style Italian sausage, usually packaged coiled up. If you can’t find either of those, you can buy Lafleur sausages, commonly found at most Montreal grocery stores. The only thin sausage that won’t work here are precooked, hot dog wieners.
Pomegranate molasses – Found on Amazon, at Marché Adonis and larger, well-stocked grocery stores such as IGA.
I hope you love these as much as we do.
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Sticky Pomegranate Glazed Pigs in Blankets with Bacon and Roasted Pistachios
Ingredients
- 24 pork chipolatas or other thin pork sausages such as Lafleur each twisted in the middle, then cut in half, to make 2 smaller sausages. If using Barese style sausage, cut about to about 2.5”long pieces.
- 24 rashers smoked streaky bacon cut in half widthways
- 20 g pistachios
- 1 tbsp parsley leaves finely chopped
- 1 tbsp dill leaves finely chopped (Leave some leaves whole ‘cause they look pretty)
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup pomegranate molasses
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp chilli flakes
Instructions
INSTRUCTIONS
- Heat the oven to 400F. Wrap a piece of bacon around each half-chipolata and put on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- Put the pistachios on a second, smaller tray, then put both trays in the oven. After 10 minutes, when the pistachios are lightly toasted, remove them and set aside to cool, but leave the sausage in the oven for a further 20 minutes, until golden. Once the nuts are cool, chop them roughly and set aside.
- Meanwhile, put the maple syrup, pomegranate molasses and cinnamon in a small pan. Bring to a boil, cook for a minute or two, then pour into a large bowl and leave to cool and thicken for 10 minutes.
- Once the chipolatas are cooked, put them in the molasses bowl.
- Mix gently to coat the sausages in the molasses mix, then arrange in a pile on a serving plate.
- Drizzle over any remaining molasses, scatter the pistachio herb mixture on top and serve sprinkled with chilli flakes.
