RAINBOW FRUIT & VEG BOARD

An array of vegetable crudités, arranged by colour, looks spectacular on a grazing board, especially when served with vibrantly coloured dips. This board is best served soon after being arranged, so get ahead by preparing all your crudités and keeping them in containers in the fridge, ready to go on the board. You can make the dip up to 24 hours in advance, too. Then it’s simply a matter of heaping the veggies and chips on the board in brightly coloured piles and adding the dips. It should take around 15 minutes to assemble, but because the combination of colours has such impact, everyone will imagine you’ve worked on it for hours (the most satisfying hosting trick).

SERVES 8

H 300g hummus

H 300g beetroot hummus

H 16 grissini

H 150g baked pitta chips

H 150g blue corn tortilla chips

H 1 cucumber

H 3 large carrots

H 6 sweet-bite peppers

H 300g mixed radishes

H 500g sugar-snap peas

H 125g baby plum tomatoes

H mustard cress, to garnish

AVOCADO, PEA & CANNELLINI BEAN DIP

H 200g frozen peas

H 1 medium avocado

H 400g tin cannellini beans

H 50g mature Cheddar, grated

H 2 garlic cloves, crushed

H 1-2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

H 1-2 tbsp olive oil

H sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 Make the avocado, pea and cannellini bean dip. Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the peas. Simmer for 3 minutes to cook them through, then drain. Halve the avocado, scoop out the stone and peel away the skin. Roughly chop. Drain the cannellini beans, catching the liquid from the tin in a bowl.

2 Put the peas, avocado and beans in a food processor. Add the Cheddar, garlic and 1 tablespoon each lemon juice and olive oil. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Whiz until smoothly combined.

Taste and add more salt, pepper, lemon juice or olive oil if it needs it. If it seems too chunky or stiff, add a few tablespoons of the liquid from the cannellini bean tin.

3 The dip will keep for up to 24 hours in a sealed container in the fridge. Cover the top of the dip with a thin layer of olive oil to help prevent it browning, and stir that in before serving.

4 When ready to serve, place three bowls on your grazing board and fill them with the dips. Arrange the grissini, pitta chips and tortilla chips on the board.

5 Trim and slice the cucumber into finger-length batons,

Trim, peel and slice the carrots to match. Halve the peppers and scoop out the seeds and white pith. Trim and slice some of the radishes into rounds and slice others into flower shapes, if liked, leaving other radishes whole. Arrange all the veg on the board, strewing some mustard cress across it to garnish.

Serve within 30 minutes of being assembled.