Fall Mediterranean Snacking Board

Let’s talk about one of my favorite food groups- breads with dips, a.k.a. snacking boards. There is nothing better than a good carb used as a vessel for scooping some salty, yogurty dip and that is a statement that I will always stand behind. Snacking boards have been a hot topic for the last few years because they can be ultra-pretty and can make you feel a bit like Martha Stewart when you make one. For me, they are the color by numbers of the food world and I’m personally very into that.

The inspiration for this particular board came after a long wait to early vote. About 2 weeks ago, when early voting opened in Florida, Martin and I headed to the library one afternoon to stand in line and vote. I finished a few minutes before Martin so I meandered over to the cookbook section, just to make sure I didn’t miss anything new or interesting and I’m so glad that I did. There, gleaming at me from those metal library shelves, was a copy of Falastin by Sami Tamimi, a book I’ve been eager to get my hands on since it’s release in this past spring. Sami Tamimi is a fairly well-known chef, largely in part because of his work with my very favorite guy, Yotam Ottolenghi. Falastin, which shares food and stories from his childhood in Palestine, is Tamimi’s first book without Ottolenghi and it is an absolute joy. In the five minute car ride home, Martin and I tagged at least ten recipes we couldn’t wait to try, the first being butternut squash m’tabbal, a butternut squash and eggplant dip that made it’s appearance on this board (and then on breakfast sandwiches, quesadillas, and scrambled eggs everyday after). I built a Mediterranean-esque board centered around that particular recipe, heavy on the dips and pitas with a few cheeses, some fruit and a little salty meat for good measure. I’ll break down this board for you and I also have a slightly more traditional charcuterie and cheese how-to post here, if you are interested, but the beauty of a good snack board is making it your own. Take some notes and then trust your self and give it a whirl!

butternut squash and eggplant dip from “falastin” by

olive tapenade

a fall mediterranean snacking board

dips: The most important part of this board, you want a varied assortment. I used ______ as my centerpiece, and added to it a very traditional hummus drizzling with olive oil and sprinkled with za’atar and a salty olive tapenade (recipe below). A bright, herby yogurt dip or a smoky muhamarra would also go really well here.

breads: Pita, pita, pita! I skipped the crackers for this board and went straight for bread. Naan, focaccia, and even baguette slices would be great vessels for scooping all of those dips.

cheese: Since the focus of this board wasn’t exactly on the cheese, I only chose two: a sheep’s milk Israeli feta, which was really great sprinkled on top of dip-laden pita wedges, and a goat milk gouda.

meat: I almost skipped the meat entirely, and you definitely could and go full vegetarian, but I love a good salty meat and I couldn’t help myself. I just added a few slices of prosciutto, which ended up pairing excellently with the goat gouda and apple slices.

fruit: I used a combination of fresh and dried fruit here. Grapes, blackberries, apples, and dates for snacking and pomegranate wedges and dried persimmons for aesthetic appeal.

salty snacks: This category encompasses things likes olives and pickles and nuts. I already had an olive tapenade on the board so I didn’t add any extra snacking olives. Instead, I sliced a few Persian cucumbers and tossed them with salt, dill, red pepper, a pinch of sugar, and apple cider vinegar and created my own crunchy quick pickle. (I essentially followed this recipe from Bon Appetit, with just a few creative liberties.) I also added some pistachios for creaminess and crunch.

Olive Tapenade

makes about 1 1/2 cups

a few years ago, my aunt took me to the South of France for ten days to celebrate our birthdays. we ate confit duck legs at 11 am with sauternes, we strolled through cobblestone streets snacking on croissants, and we spent afternoons on the rooftop terrace of our AirBnB eating cheese. it was magical. we also spent an afternoon in a culinary class with my friend Gilles where we made grand aioli and olive tapenade and ate in the middle of his garden. this is a little riff on Gilles’ olive tapenade and it’s the easiest and most delicious recipe I’ve made.

Ingredients

200 g green and black olive, pitted

20 grams pistachios

a handful of fresh basil

2 tsp capers

50 grams olive oil

50 grams oil-packed tuna

Procedure

1. Combine everything except the olive oil in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until everything is broken down into small, coarse pieces.

2. Drizzle in olive oil and pulse a few more times until everything is combined. Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.

3. Serve drizzled with more olive oil and lots of pita.

Holiday Charcuterie Board How-To

I love the holiday season because it is a wonderful excuse to gorge on cheese and salty meats. I love it even more now that highly-styled, decorative plates filled with said meats and cheeses have become a cool, trendy thing because it gives me another excuse to play with my food. The beauty of a great charcuterie board is it’s versatility. You can use pretty much anything that you like snacking on and it’s great for any occasion- from that Christmas potluck you signed up to bring an appetizer for, to Thursday night snack-dinner. Charcuterie boards are always there for you.

I put together a holiday-esque snacking board a few weeks ago and have compiled a few tips and tricks to help you create your own.

Step 1:

Start with a board. Fancy bamboo platters are very nice and beautiful, but they can also be kind of expensive and, if your kitchen storage is anything like ours, a little tricky to find a home for. If you already have a big platter, then by all means, cheese it up. But if you don’t have a fancy platter, not to worry. You can really use any, large flat-surfaced item that you have. I used a baking stone for mine, and just trimmed a piece of parchment to lay on top of it. My board was 12”x16”.

I find that it’s also really helpful for me to pull out all of the items I’m going to put on the board before starting to arrange so that I get an idea of how much space I will need. If you’re only using 1-2 cheeses and a couple of other little snacks, you might want to use a smaller platter or a plate. For more cheese/snacks/charcuterie, use a bigger platter.

Step 2:

Place your cheeses, spread out a bit, on the board. They are your anchors and the whole board will revolve around them. I’ve read quite a few charcuterie board “recipes” that call for a soft cheese, a hard cheese, an aged cheese, and a blue cheese. This is a good rule of thumb to ensure you have a little diversity on your board, but ultimately, you should pick cheeses that you like.

For this board, I used: goat cheese, a very mild blue cheese, a salty gouda, a creamy port salut, and a smoked sheep’s milk cheese called etxegarai.

Shop local when you can, and when you can’t, there is always Trader Joe’s. Cheese boards can get expensive. Cured meats and good cheese are some of the pricier items in the store and building a whole board out of them can quickly add up. Since I unfortunately do not have a never-ending supply of cheese money, I like to get one or two meats/cheese from my local cheese shop (in Orlando, I like La Femme du Fromage at East End Market) and then bulk the rest of my board up with less-expensive cheese from the grocery store. If you have a Trader Joe’s anywhere near you, it is worth the drive! Their cheese selection is really great and really affordable.

Step 3:

After you lay out your cheeses, place small bowls or ramekins on the board for your jams, dips, mustards, and olives. I like to spread these out in empty spaces around the cheeses. Don’t fill your bowls, just yet. We will just use them as placeholders for now.

Step 4:

It’s time for the meats. I cannot exaggerate enough how much I enjoy a salty, cured, meat. I would eat slices of chorizo or salami everyday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner if I could. (In fact, on my most recent trip to Spain, I did.) I choose my meats the same way I choose my cheese- a variety of different types, splurging on one or two really great ones. When placing your meats on the board, you want to make sure that you are folding or bunching them into little, easy to grab parcels. For larger pieces of meat, like prosciutto or jamon, slice them in half before folding so that everything is bite size.

For this board, I used: prosciutto, chorizo, salami, salchichon, and Serrano jamon.

Step 5:

Fill in all empty space with cheese board accoutrements. Again, pick a variety of bite-sized, stackable foods that you like. Here are some suggestions:

Fruit- Fresh and/or dried. I am berry girl myself, but Martin likes grapes and apples so I included a little of each on this board.

Nuts- It’s nice to have a crunchy contrast to all of the soft, creamy things on the board. I used cashews and almonds, but pistachios are also great.

Jams, Jellies, and Dips- For this board, I used raspberry jam and fig butter, because I thought their flavors paired well with the port salut and the blue cheese. I also like the addition of seedy, whole grain mustards, yogurt-based dips with lots of garlic and chives, or marmalades.

Olives and other Marinated/Pickled Goodies: I don’t want a cheese board if it doesn’t have olives. I found some little, buttery green olives, but I also really love Kalamatas, or really anything swimming in oil coming off of an olive bar. Martin doesn’t like olives, so I added grilled marinated artichoke hearts so he didn’t feel left out. Pickles and other pickled vegetables give a briny, pucker-y flavor to the board.

Crackers and Bread: Not exactly a part of the board, I alway like to have a basket of bread off to the side for slathering with cheeses and jams and piling with salami. I like baguettes sliced into little rounds or squares of focaccia best. I also like to include crackers of some sort on the board, for a little extra crunch and for when the bread runs out. I prefer butter crackers without a lot of added flavors so that the cheeses can really sing, but if you’re a water cracker kind of person, go for it. If you can, it’s nice to include a gluten-free cracker for those who are sensitive to gluten, but still love a good cheese board.

We still have a week until Christmas, and two weeks until New Year’s. There is plenty of time to add a cheese board or two to your holiday plans! Swing by your local cheese monger, pick up some snacky foods and let your creative side loose. Happy boarding!