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Put the pork back into the oven for 15 minutes, to crispen somewhat and to gild the edges.Meanwhile, put the pot directly on to a moderate flame and heat together the winey juices and remaining garlic cloves. Taste the juices and allow to reduce a little, if you think the flavour needs strengthening. Now tip the whole lot into the bowl of a liquidiser or food processor and puree until smooth. Tip into a sieve and push through into a small pan, using the back of a ladle. Now this loose – for want of a better word – gravy should have the consistency of a voluptuous cream soup If it seems too thick, add a little warmed double cream. Keep the sauce warm.Remove the pork from the oven, switch it off, and put the prunes in there to heat through in its waning heat Allow the pork to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

For each person, carve one thin-ish slice between the bones and then a thicker one with bone attached. Or, if you prefer, remove all the bones in one fell swoop and slice away without hindrance. Garnish each serving with three prunes each and a welter of the garlic sauce. Accompaniments could include sprouts, braised celery and a dish of crunchy roast potatoes.

Come to think of it, these very vegetables would be awfully good with something like roast turkey, don’t you think?. How well I recall the cardboard glove-box of dates as a child. It would sit on the sideboard in the dining room and never get opened, despite the plea of “Eat Me”. There it stood as Christmas Day came and went and as the remainder of the twelve days passed, until down came the tinsel and all that was left were the strawberry creams and coconut centres of the Quality Street that no one wanted to eat, and the Cellophane-wrapped box of dates. Yet it never stopped my mother from buying them again the following year. If you did venture past the Cellophane, you found two lines of syrupy dates, sticky with glucose, nestling in a doily lining with a white plastic fork in the shape of the one the devil holds in his hand. You can still buy these dates – my local supermarket has them decoratively stacked high- rise – but I won’t be buying them.
I think the turning point in our household came with the large bag my husband brought back from the Sahara – along with various anecdotes.

Muhammad the Prophet is said to have existed off dates and water alone during his time in Medina, and they are enormously sacred to Arab people who liken them to man. “The date palm resembles man by its erect position and its height If its head is cut off, it dies If its heart is exposed to too great a strain, it perishes. It is not the same with man?”Even without such analogy, the way in which the palms send tap roots down to the level of subterranean water is enough to render them exceptionally valuable. And the stifling shade they offer beneath their tall canopy of leaves protects other trees and plants – grapes, pomegranates, figs, peaches, apricots, almonds, wheat and barley. If this all sounds a little vegetarian for your liking, the Berbers believe dates go especially well with dog meat.My own soft spot is for Medjool dates, the largest of the desert varieties. Soft and fudgy, with a wrinkled skin cast with a white bloom, they are not overly sweet.

Medjool often come from California and are sold loose in boxes, having been harvested by hand. Deglet Nour is the other popular eating variety, named after one of the wives of the prophets called Noura who always did her washing in the same spot. Legend has a palm tree growing there which produced the finest fruit, and this became known as Deglet Nour.There are many harder date varieties with different sugar properties that are grown specifically for baking. These are the ones you find in solid blocks that need soaking. But even with the tendency for fresh dates to burn, I prefer them in cakes and desserts to the others.I quite often buy my dates from Middle Eastern shops. It’s the kind of thing the owners pride themselves on – a large box of the fattest fruits you have ever seen loosely jumbled together in a box lined with waxed paper.