It’s spring and a charcuterie board is synonymous with this lovely season! When I think of a charcuterie board, I think of picnics, pink flowers, gingham dresses and good vibes all-round. This charcuterie board is pretty small so it serves up to 2 people I think. It is still really delicious nonetheless. I used chocolate spread, chocolate bars, biscuits, crackers, cold meats, two cheeses, fruit and nuts.
Arranging the ingredients
There are so many cool ways to arrange a charcuterie board. I found it easiest to start from the centre and work my way outwards. Make use of good props you have in the kitchen for this one because it is all about the presentation. I’ve also seen people share cool ways of arranging the cold cuts e.g on a wine glass to make it look like a rose. The Denver Housewife has a great tutorial on how to make these fancy roses. I was too impatient to make them and simply scrunched the cold meats to make them look like curtain ruffles. It’s all up to you really, as long as it looks nice at the end of the day.
What do I need for a good charcuterie board?
From what I’ve seen around, a charcuterie board consists of the following:
- A serving board ( I used a circular board that was about 10 inches in diameter)
- Fresh fruit
- Chocolate bars
- Nuts
- Jam or sweet spread
- Firm or hard cheese
- Sliced cold meats
- Crackers or biscuits or sliced baguette bread
For the fruit I went for blood oranges and grapes. This is a mini board so if you have a bigger board use a variety of fruits! I used chocolate spread because I rarely eat jam these days. My choice of cheese was Brie cheese and Corvo cheese, which tastes like cheddar cheese. For the cold meats, I used deli-style pepperoni, ham and salami. I used regular crackers and added Biscoff biscuits as a dipping tool for the chocolate spread. Then I used an almond chocolate bar as well, and broke it in half. Then I added a few fake flowers here and there to make it look pretty. I also added a summer-themed kitchen towel to enhance the spring themes.
Ingredients
0.3kg Corvo block cheese
200g double cream Brie cheese
1 cup peanuts (or other nuts you prefer)
1 cup pitted olives, drained
100g chocolate bar, broken into half (or other candy)
Handful of fresh grapes, rinsed and patted dry (strawberries are also commonly used)
1/2 cup chocolate spread
10-15 small crackers (or other biscuits you prefer)
2 blood oranges (or orange/grapefruit/kumquat)
8 slices ham
8 slices salami
8 slices pepperoni (deli-style)
Instructions
- Place a large kitchen towel on the surface you're using.
- I cut a V-shape in the center of the brie cheese. I also cut the Corvo cheese into narrow triangles.
- Then, to make the zigzag shape of the blood oranges, I made small and deep v-shaped incisions in the center of the fruit.
- I placed the olives in a ramekin and placed it at the center of the circular board.
- Then I arranged the remaining ingredients around the olives. I also used another ramekin to serve the chocolate spread and added Biscoff biscuits in it.
- Garnish the board with flowers as preferred.
- This is best served immediately and leftovers are not recommended (see notes below).
Notes
I wouldn't recommend storing leftovers for food safety reasons. Firstly, the charcuterie board is likely going to be left out for long periods of time and secondly, your hands will be touching the fruit, cheese and meat repeatedly. In my opinion, this is will likely cause cross-contamination so it's best to eat it all in one go.