Fabulously Delicious: {DIY} The Perfect Meat & Cheese Board
If you know me, then you KNOW I'm a sucker for a super festive meat and cheese board! I always have them at every get together I host whether big or small. It's something you can't go wrong with because seriously, who doesn't like a good meat and cheese spread?! (Except for my beautiful vegan and vegetarian friends! LOVE YOU GUYS! 😘 )
It's a very simple process, you just have to know what to buy, and where to place them on your board! Once that's done, then you can make it look all pretty and then watch it slowly disappear while your friends and family gorge themselves into a meaty, cheesy coma.
{What You'll Need}
Meats:
It's always important to provide a variety of meats in different flavors and textures, just as you would with your cheese situation. If you're unsure, buy what YOU like!
- Italian Dry Salame
- Prosciutto
- Gourmet Pepperoni
- Sopressata Salame
- Calabresse Salame
Cheeses:
This is where you get to have fun! There are most definitely the cheese staples...the soft cheeses and the hard cheeses, but then you can get crazy and pick some cheeses you've been wanting to try...i.e. TRUFFLE CHEESE!!!
- Triple Creme Brie
- Gouda
- Chevre
- Parmesan
- Blue
- Cheddar
- Manchego
- Italian Truffle
Baguette & Crackers:
You're going to need something to spread your meat and cheese on, so this is where the carbs come in people!
- Sourdough Baguette
- Raisin Rosemary Crisps
- Italian Breadsticks with Olive Oil
Fruit, Nuts & Garnish:
I feel like this is the last step to completing your board. You can really add ANYTHING you'd like here. Any kind of fruit whether fresh or dried will do just fine!
- Fresh Grapes
- Rosemary (for garnish)
- Dried Apricots
- Dried Figs
- Truffle Marcona Almonds
Olives & Spreads:
You can add whatever you'd like here, the options are endless! Sometimes I add hummus...Hello, I'm an Armo! It's in my blood! However, these are definitely two musts for me!
- Greek Olive Medley
- Traditional Olive Tapenade
{How To Arrange}
I always start by placing my cheeses on the board first. After I've decided their home, I move on to the meats and intertwine them throughout the cheeses. Depending on how many meats and cheeses you chose to use, you can then add the crackers and/or sliced baguette around the board to fill in some empty space. (If you don't have enough space, you can serve them separately.)
Now, it's time to garnish! This is the easy part...All you have to do it LITERALLY fill in the empty spaces. Use the grapes, dried fruits and nuts as fillers around the board, throw a couple sprigs of rosemary around the board and you are set!! You can choose to pour your olives and spreads into cute little serving bowls and serve them on the board, or separately, but once again, it's completely up to you! Now add your cheese knives, picks and cheese markers and give yourself a pat on the back! YOU DID IT!! #jobwelldone
*Sooooo funny story here! After I spent alllllll this time perfectly preparing this gorgeous spread for my Golden Globes viewing party last night, I spent quite a bit of time photographing the goods. Where are the pictures you might ask!? Well. For Christmas I was gifted a brand new Sony a6000 and you could say I'm still "getting used to it" and didn't realize that unlike my Nikon it let's you take faux photos WITHOUT A MEMORY CARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So here I am, happily snapping photos, watching my friends inhale something that was essentially not photographed yet (#nightmare), and enjoying a fabulous evening with friends! Finally at the end of the night, I opened my camera to pop out that tiny little SD card...and it's empty. Yup. No photos, NOTHING. So THANKFULLY I took a photo on my phone and that is what you are ALL enjoying today! So moral of the story is to ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS check your camera for your SD card. It's not like this hasn't happened to me before at a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field or anything. Ugh, I'm the worst.
Just a quick little reminder that Superbowl is coming up, so start practicing now! By then you'll have this bad boy perfect!!
