Let creativity run rampant with charcuterie
If you’d like to have friends over for a game night or movie night, but the thought of cooking scares you, a charcuterie board is an answer to that situation. Charcuterie (pronounced “shar-COO-turree”) is, in its basic form, a meat and cheese board. However, trust me on this one: Once you start assembling all the goodies, it’s hard to know when to stop. The fun part is you can choose such a variety of meats, cheese, different types of bread, crackers and fruit. Let your creativity run rampant, set out a gorgeous spread and invite friends over to enjoy.
Remember, the larger the board, the more food items you will need to fill all the spaces. Rectangular shaped boards will give a more pleasing visual presentation than a square board. You’ll need a variety of small bowls, candy dishes or ramekins. These don’t have to match. Fill them with honey (include the honeycomb if possible), stuffed olives, cornichons, pickled okra, whole grain mustard, fig preserves and a mixed selection of salted nuts.
When considering what you’ll add to your board, think about the wide variety of deli meats available. Serve these in different ways: thickly sliced salami, diced pepperoni, rolled ham or capicola, and thinly sliced ham, which can be piled high.
Include three or more types of cheeses: A hard cheese such as an English or Irish cheddar, a soft cheese (brie or camembert) and a block of blue cheese. It’s fun to experiment with flavors that are new to you and your guests. By providing a contrast of flavors and textures (from soft to hard/ mild to strong), your guests can sample a broad range. You may even discover you have new favorites! For those who don’t care for blue cheese, add a light drizzle of honey to the cheese. The sweetness will tame some of the pungency of the blue. You also could choose to offer a choice of a cow, sheep and goat cheese. The best part of a charcuterie board is you can pick and choose whatever you’d like.
For the fruit selections, a mixture of fresh and dried will provide texture and sweetness: grapes, sliced apples and pears, along with dried apricots and cherries, are some of my favorites. Of course, you could serve dried plums, dates and diced pineapple as well.
Now for the final touches. Fill in any gaps with toasted baguette slices, pretzel crisps and rosemary breadsticks. Remember to provide a gluten-free bread or cracker option for those guests who have a sensitivity to gluten.
Don’t forget to provide small cheese knives and utensils.
Laura Tolbert, also known as Fleur de Lolly, has been sharing recipes, table decor ideas and advice for fellow foodies and novices on her blog, fleurdelolly.blogspot.com, for more than eight years. She won the Duke’s Mayonnaise 100th Anniversary nationwide recipe contest for her Alabama White BBQ Sauce. You can contact her at facebook.com/fleurde. lolly.5, on Instagram, and at fleurdelolly@yahoo.com