EASY FALL CHARCUTERIE BOARD
One of my favorite memories as child when visiting my grandparents was observing my granny’s down time. I can remember spending a quiet Saturday afternoon with her as she prepared to watch her ‘cowboy shows’ (Western Tv shows). This was all after grandpa finished watching Soul Train of course, lol.
In preparation for a few hours of watching these programs, she would pull a small block of cheddar cheese from the refrigerator and proceed to make her own small cheeseboard. Grandma’s board or plate rather, was very simple— sliced cheddar cheese, hard salami, black olives, and a can of Pepsi soda! As I got a little older, I started to understand that my grandma was making her own little charcuterie board. As I adopted having this kind of ‘snack’ while watching my favorite show as an adult, my own cheeseboards became more elaborate. I started to enjoy making my very own charcuterie boards.
Some of you may ask: What exactly is a Charcuterie board?
It’s simply the art of assembling meats and cheeses with fruit, nuts and crackers for easy and quick hors d'oeuvres. A charcuterie plate is perfect for entertaining, cocktail hour bites, and of course for a convenient and satisfying snacking.
Charcuterie is a type of cooking involving prepared meats, such as ham, sausage, bacon, or other pork products.
Now is the perfect time to prepare a charcuterie board! You can prepare a small plate for yourself with a glass of wine or for your family at home for the holidays. It serves perfect as a holiday appetizer!
However you choose, here’s an easy guide to how I prepared mine:
INGREDIENTS
MEATS
There are several types of meats you can choose for your board. It all really either depends on what you like, or the taste of those you’ll be serving your board to. Having a variety is a safe bet. Since this was a smaller board for myself and my husband I stuck to only two kinds of meat. I chose Trader Joe's Uncured Applewood Smoked Salami and Three Pepper Salami. I highly recommend both!
CHEESES
Having a variety of cheeses for your board is key to great taste! You’ll want to include aged hard cheeses like gouda, cheddar and Manchego. There are also soft cheeses like chevre and brie! For this board I went with four different types of cheeses, both hard and soft. Trader Joe's Spanish Cheese Tapas Sampler—which come pre-sliced for your convenience & Chèvre Fine Herbs - Creamy Goat cheese. I wasn't a huge fan of goat cheese until I started experimenting and tasting different kinds. This one, combined with the other ingredients of this board, tastes pretty incredible. It’s definitely the flavors for me!
FRUIT
I kept things simple and added dried orange slices, blackberries, and raspberries!
NUTS
I recommend adding spicy nut/seed mixes, caramelized nuts and even chocolate covered nuts. I used honey roasted almonds—which took things to the next level.
CRACKERS
Trader Joe’s Red Chili Scalloped Crackers were my choice here and definitely a good one! I expected a bit more of a spicy kick with these crackers. Turns out, they had just the right amount of heat to tie in with the other ingredients.
GARNISH & decorations
To complete the board add greens like rosemary sprigs, lettuce leaves, or basil! Not only did I add rosemary, I thought these mini white pumpkins were the perfect touch for the fall season. This really brings the look of the board together, making it pretty + festive, and more importantly, like you knew exactly what you were doing!
I’ve also included must-have charcuterie board items for you to shop down below. Feel free to to click around, browse, and purchase!
