Every Christmas eve we chill out watching Christmas films eating a little savoury buffet, so this year we are going to take it up a level with a charcuterie board. I’ve designed this board filled with at least a few things each that all my family love to keep everyone satisfied.
Charcuterie boards seem to be the foodie buzzword of 2021, and I couldn’t leave the vegans out. ok ok, I will put my hands up, this in no way resembles a traditional charcuterie board. Why? Charcuterie is derived from the French words for flesh (chair) and cooked (cuit), so these boards would traditionally be made up of a selection of cured meats, pates and things paired with those.
But in the more modern sence the term charcuterie board is used to describe essentially a nibbles board, and I love it! Call this whatever you will, its a delicious way to spend a winters evening watching christmas films and curled up in front of the fire.
The charcuterie board its self is pretty easy, and mainly focuses on creative plating, so I’ve included our favourite pate and cream cheese recipes too, which for the past 6 years, my other half actually makes every Christmas eve.
Recipes
For the Charcuterie Board
- Cheese (recipe below)
- Pate (recipe below)
- Olives
- Whole wheat crackers,
- Hummus (recipe below)
- Apples
- Grapes
- Cherry tomatoes
- Carrot sticks
- Tiny pickles
- Nuts
- Cucumber slices
- Tortilla crisps (we found these cool Christmas shape ones in our local Aldi)
Hummus
- 1½ cups cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- ⅓ cup smooth tahini*
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, more to taste
- 1 garlic clove
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 5 tablespoons water, or as needed to blend
- paprika, red pepper flakes, or parsley, for garnish
- In a high-speed blender, place the chickpeas, tahini olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and salt. Use the blender baton to blend until very smooth, adding water as needed to blend, and/or to reach your desired consistency.
- Transfer to a serving plate, top with desired garnishes and serve with warm pita and veggies, as desired.
Cream cheese
- 140g cashews (1 cup)
- 3 tbsp lemon juice (about 1 lemon )
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- Soak cashews in water for 6 hours, or soak in boiling water for 1 hour. Drain.
- Add all ingredients into a blender and blend. Keep pushing down the sides to ensure all is blended up well
- You might need to blend 3-4 times depending on the strength of your blender.
- When you are happy with the consistency, put the cream cheese into an airtight container and keep in the fridge.
If your want more cheese variety check out this feta style recipe
Pate
- 1 cup almonds (raw unsalted – do not soak)
- 1/4 cup shallots or sweet onions sliced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 cups mushrooms sliced
- 2 teaspoons herbs de Provance
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup water
- Add 1 cup of almonds to a high-powered food processor and blend until they look like almond meal.
- Slice 1/4 cup of shallots (or sweet onion) and saute them in 1/4 cup of olive oil on low until they become translucent. (This may seem like a lot of oil, but you will need this much to achieve the correct texture when you blend it with the nuts).
- Slice 2 cups of mushrooms, add them to the shallots. Sprinkle 1/2 tsp with salt and 2 tsp herbs.
- Cook the mushrooms until they become darker and release their juices.
- Add the mushrooms and shallot mixture to the pureed almonds and mix in the food processor again until they are completely incorporated. (You may have to stop and scrape the edges a few times).
- Slowly add 1-2 tbsp of water if needed until you achieve the desired consistency.
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