The most delicious winter grazing board
It always feels like as we start to near the end of a season, we’re all jumping ahead, grasping at what’s to come.
And, I’m here to tell you to take a moment to savor winter. Savor those in-between moments because how can we ever enjoy the now if we’re always in a rush to get to the next thing?
Too deep for a grazing board post? Sorry! It’s been on my mind a ton lately, so I had to share.
And, it’s particularly relevant to this post here because you are most definitely going to want to savor this winter grazing board. I mean….peppered salami and baked brie?! So much yum on one little…err…medium-sized board.
The Most Delectable Winter Grazing Board
Here’s my best advice for building a winter grazing board
- Start with your anchors – your cheese! Placing them on your board first will help you fill in the spaces around them.
- Embrace the meat river. How gross does that sound? You’ll never forget it now. I remember the husband and wife team who catered our wedding held a little grazing board workshop and they mentioned it and now we always remember to create that meat river to bring the board together. I like to fold my salamis in all different ways to keep them texturally interesting, but you can simply fold them in half and half again if you’d like.
- Slice up what you can. This makes sense for pieces of cheese like cheddar and gouda. For soft cheese, slice into it once or twice to make it more approachable.
- Select one focal point – for this one I used my baked brie with brown butter pistachios. So so yummy and less than 15 minutes to make!
- Create texture and repetitiveness. For example, I thinly sliced my pears and placed them cut edge out so that instead of a brown blob in the middle of my board, it’s a more unique and aesthetically pleasing piece of fruit.
- Find a balance between salty and a little sweet. I like to use berries, grapes, and dried fruits to offer a reprieve from the salty cheeses and meats.
- Include something a little special. I had these crinkle cookies on hand already so I popped them onto the board because whoever said you can’t enjoy cookies on a grazing board?
And, here’s what I included on mine:
- Baked brie with brown butter pistachios – so yum
- Manchego and Roquefort cheeses
- Crackers – go for 2-3 types if you can!
- Fresh fruit – pears, blackberries, and pomegranate arils
- Meats – prosciutto, peppered salame, genoa salame
- Nuts – I live for all the flavored nuts at Trader Joe’s! Particularly anything that’s salty and sweet
- Sweets – peppermint mocha crinkle cookies, golden raisins, and yogurt covered pretzels
I know, it looks like a lot. And honestly, this board was stuffed. As was I once I finished eating it all with my husband, ha!
Be sure to serve it with a side of wine – we went with Mionetto for this one 😊
What do you think, will you be whipping up a winter grazing board anytime soon? Tell me here or on Instagram! I’d love to check out your creations using the 7 tips I shared here!
g.
