Simple Charcuterie cheese board

 

I DID IT!

The elements of this dish come together like a symphony orchestra. Every item complimenting the next. They are all working together so you taste salt, sweet, zesty, and spicy. Then experience textures like soft, crunchy, and crumbly. I can see why these are all the rage, and how this can make a banging brunch.

I was introduced to charcuterie in New York about 10 years ago, even though at the time I didn’t know it was a thing. In college, the art and architecture department always had loads of Lectures and events. Without fail, there was always a grazing table, full of fruits, vegetables, cheese, jams, deli meats and cold cut sandwiches. My sister and I were always puzzled as to why is this always the food. But even though we complained, we ate it anyway, and actually started to like it. Fast forward over 10 years later, and charcuterie is all the rage here in Jamaica. The brunch and party spread of choice for millennials. And to think, my sister and I used to roll our eyes and the extensive grazing tables our college used to provide lol.

So needless to say, I have wanted to make a charcuterie cheese board for a hot minute! I have thought about it, watched others make them, dreamt about it… well, maybe not dreamt, but I really, really had been longing to make this. I am sure you have been seeing them all over Instagram, they are so beautiful and I just thought I would put my spin on it. Especially by adding a few unusual elements.

The thing I think these boards lack is meat. And by meat, I do not mean cold cuts. We all know they are filled with prosciutto, salami, and other deli meats etc. But what about meatballs and chicken wings and nuggets? Can those meats get some love? I decided to go with some chicken meatballs and spice them with rosemary and sage so they would taste more like a breakfast sausage. Then they were tossed in maple syrup. I would easily eat a bowl of these by themselves.

There are three cheese elements that I would say make this dish stand out. You want your cheeses to all taste different and have different textures. My first recommendation may not be easy to find for all. It's smoked cheese. Some of you lucky ones can just hop down to the grocery store and get some. I have to cold smoke my own. Smoked cheese on a charcuterie board, for me, is an absolute must. But if you can't be bothered to smoke cheese, you can use unsmoked gouda and cheddar.

The next cheese is the brie. You want a soft, gooey, cheese pull kind of cheese, and because brie melts so well, and has a subtle flavor I think it's perfect. Mine is stuffed with goodies and baked. So this is a great cheese to spread on crackers once it's melted and mixed up.

The next cheese is cream cheese, another must. But basic cream cheese won't cut it. You have to spice it up and roll it up in nuts. I’ve seen people do herbs, bacon, jalapeno, the possibilities are endless when it comes to a crusted cream cheese ball. The one here in this recipe Is absolutely addictive. It’s among the top 5 most delicious things I’ve made all year and the most delicious cream cheese you will ever taste in your life, I guarantee it!

Then it's just about assembling, start with the big stuff, the meatballs, the jams, and bigger cheeses, use them as anchors, and then add the smaller hard cheese slices and crackers around that. Then add the larger fruits, grapes, and strawberries. By the time all that’s in, space should be filling up and you can tuck in your cold cuts, I only used chicken slices. Once the meats are tucked in then I add the smallest items which were the blueberries and grape tomatoes. I dropped them in little clusters wherever I saw empty space. One thing I will say, you have to judge and use the right sized board for the amount of food you have.  Too small a board and most of the items wont fit, and too big a board will be hard to fill if you don’t have enough things to go on it. So I think that’s about it. This was a really long post, but, I’ve been on hiatus since Easter, so you guys deserve a little extra effort in this post. This dish is worth the read and the time it takes to make it!

 

Ingredients (Printable recipe)
 
For the nutty Cream cheese ball
8 oz cream cheese
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon rosemary
2 garlic cloves
½ cup parmesan cheese
½ cup crushed pistachios
For the Chicken meatballs
½ lb ground chicken
1 slice bread
¼ cup milk
¼ teaspoon lime zest
2 teaspoon fresh sage
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
¼ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
4 tablespoon oil to fry
4 tablespoon maple syrup
For the baked brie
1 brie cheese
1 tablespoon thyme leaves
1 clove garlic shredded
¼ cup raisins finely chopped
other ingredients
cold cuts
green grapes
purple grapes
strawberries
sesame cracker
Saltine crackers
Aged White cheddar
Smoked gouda
Pepper jelly
strawberry jelly
grape tomatoes
Blueberries

 

Directions

For the chicken meatballs

• place the bread to soak in milk, once saturated remove the excess milk and add the soaked bread to the ground chicken
• add all the herbs and seasonings and mix thoroughly to combine, the mixture will be soft
• Make sure your hands are wet (Meatballs won't stick to wet hands) and ball out mini meatballs, this mixture should make about 12 meatballs
• If your hands get tacky, wash and re-wet, and continue balling out
• heat up the oil in a pan and fry all the meatballs until golden on all sides and cooked through about 8 minutes
• remove from the heat, toss in maple syrup, and set aside

For the nutty cheese ball

• In a bowl combine, cream cheese, honey, parsley, rosemary, garlic and parmesan cheese
• mix to thoroughly combine
• crush pistachios into fine pieces and spread on top of  a layer of plastic wrap
• Place the cheese mixture in the center and coat with nuts
• form into a disc wrap it up and place in the refrigerator, this can be done the day before you are ready to use it

For all the other ingredients

• wash all the fruits and dry well
• slice the gouda and cheddar
• place the strawberry jam and pepper jelly into small serving dishes
• portion out the crackers being used

For the baked brie

• Preheat the oven to 350
• place the brie on top of a small parchment paper sheet
• slice the top of the cheese rind and add thyme garlic and raisins
• close the top of the rind and press down as best as possible
• place in the oven and melt the brie for 15 minutes

To assemble

• start by placing down anchor points on the board, the jams, the cheese, the bowl of meatballs
• layer crackers and cheese around each anchor point
• next to each jam and cheese add larger fruit, grapes and strawberries
• fill in the gaps with deli meats
• lastly add the smallest items, blueberries and grape tomatoes, add those in little pockets of empty space all over the board.
• You want a little bit of each type of food in every section of the board.
• No wrong or right, it will look pretty and taste amazing no matter what!

XOXO Greedygirl