The holidays are upon us, which usually includes a lot of cooking for big meals! But what about trying a graze board? This is a great way to create an eye-catching platter with something for everyone’s taste without lots of preparation.
Here are our top tips for creating the ultimate graze board:
Preparation
While a big platter like a cheese board or slate are ideal, you can easily use a baking sheet or even your own table too. To avoid a big mess, it is helpful to use bowls for dips, chutneys, as well as little extras like olives and sundried tomatoes.
It is also helpful to prepare bite-sized pieces for the dinner party (especially for bigger fruit) and providing utensils including a cheese knife, spoons for any dips and toothpicks.
Finally, make sure you have a variety of items that cater to everyone’s tastes and include some fruit and veg for a pop of colour!
Ingredients
A grazing board can be tailored exactly to your taste and wishes! It could be a mixed cheese and charcuterie board, completely vegetarian, use only a few ingredients or include lots of fun extras. Here are some ideas:
Cheese: balance of soft and hard cheeses with a mix of strong and mild flavours
Charcuterie: selection of cured meats including salami and prosciutto
Crackers & bread: selection of crackers, pumpernickel and sliced baguette
Fruit: variety of fresh fruit like strawberries, pear, figs and grapes, as well as dried fruit like apricots and dates
Veggies: cherry tomatoes and sundried tomatoes are a great addition for a grazing board, you can also include cucumber slices, carrot sticks and bell peppers
Nuts: walnuts, pistachios, macadamia and pecans
Dips & preserves: savoury dips like hummus and pesto, as well as sweeter dips including raspberry jam, honey or mango chutney
Little extras: olives, gherkins, stuffed peppers, herbs
Assembly
We recommend that you start assembling the cheeses as center pieces. It’s great to have a selection of at least three, which you could either keep as a block or arrange them in slices.
Next, place the bowls for your dips and preserves, olives and anything that could be messy on the platter.
Now add bigger bunches of grapes or tomatoes, as well as your bread and crackers. It’s a good idea to put the crackers closer to the cheese, as these are often paired together.
Fill in some of the gaps with cured meats, layering them, folding or cutting into smaller bite-sized pieces.
Finally fill in the remaining gaps with fruit and veggies, with nuts and herbs being great for small gaps on the platter.
Voila! An easy dinner to come together as a family and spend time together. And don’t forget to serve some wine - our range of canned wines allow everyone to have a glass of their favourite!
