Create an interactive harvest for your family and friends, with tips and tricks to help you wow everyone.
Nothing is better than spending quality time with your friends and family. Sometimes cooking for big groups of people takes a whole day, and the plates of appetisers sometimes just end up being a bowl of crisps or the infamous board of biltong…well, here is something you have to try! A Charcuterie board! A beautiful yet simple board with cheeses, meats, fruits and slices of bread for your guests to graze before the main meal.
We have searched for local businesses that will help you create the best charcuterie board, and remember, local is lekker!
Serves 8 -10
What you will need:
- 1x any size wooden serving board (can be a cutting board)
- 3x cheese knives (or knives that can cut nicely through cheese)
- 3x tsp for the preserves.
- 4x small serving bowls for olives
Indezi River Creamery:
- 1x Semi-soft Kwaito cheese with Garden Herbs
- 1x Semi-soft Kwaito cheese
- 1x Caprini, a soft goats’ milk cheese with garlic and herb
- 1x Semi-hard Smoked Cheddar cheese
- 1x Goats’ milk semi-hard Cheddar cheese
The Cure House:
- 1x Coppa Ham
- 1x Genoa Salami
- 1x Beef Bresaola
Romesco:
- 1x Spicy Panzanella Oilves
- 1x Tajine Green Olives
- 1x Pazanella Kalamata Olives
- 1x Olive Mezze Amore
- 1x Green Olive and Basil Pesto
- 1x Fragrant Rose Harissa
- 1x Kalamata Chutney
- 1x Sicilian dipping sauce
First Light Farms:
- 1x Microgreens from First Light Farms
- 1x Edible flowers from First Light Farms
Miche Bakehouse:
- 1x Country Loaf from Miche Bakehouse
- 2x Baguettes from Miche Bakehouse
How to Assemble a Charcuterie Board:
DO IT IN STAGES!
- Place your board on the table from which you’ll be serving it (it won’t be easy to move it once everything is on it).
- Place your small bowls of olives and one or two preserves in various parts of the board.
- Cheese! You can cut up your semi-hard cheeses in cubes or slices for easy picking and have a few pieces of the semi-soft cheeses already cut, making the board look fuller, then assemble the cheese in different areas on the board.
- Your board should have a few empty gaps that you will slowly fill with cured meats. You roll a few pieces to create a funky pattern of meat, but one popular pattern is a salami rose. The ‘how to’ is further below!
- Now for the bases, bread! I suggest starting with cutting a thumb-size slice of one baguette; you can place a few on the board and others leaning on the edges. You can top up the bread when it’s getting low. If you start with the Country loaf, cut the slices in half, making it easier to take a bite while keeping the size of the portions small.
- Lastly, the fun and more colourful part of any Charcuterie board is decorating. Take the microgreens and lightly sprinkle some on top of the whole board, then strategically place edible flowers on top of the cheeses and a few around to add pops of colour.
Tip: You can add fresh or dried fruit and nuts to the board to fill it up. Plus, we all know that dried fruit with cheese is amazing! A Charcuterie board is also good with your favourite crackers if you want to add some crunch.
Salami Roses:
- Grab a regular drinking glass.
- Start by laying your salami, piece by piece, over the rim while over-lapping each slice like a rose petal till the centre gets smaller.
- Hold it steady then flip onto the board and slowly pull the glass off.
- Tada, you made a salami rose!
Special Thanks
Cheeses from Indezi River Creamery
Cured meats from The Cure House
Olives and preserves from Romesco
Bread from Miche Bakehouse
Microgreens and edible flowers from First Light Farms
Words: Kai Coates