There is nothing I love to serve more at a gathering than a gorgeous chartruterie board. I feel like there is an anatomy to creating a well rounded and beautiful board. Here are some of the tips and tricks I’ve found make the process super simple!
To start, you need to decide how large of a board you are going to fill. I have three different sizes on hand. It’s nice to have a couple to feed larger or smaller groups. For this particular gathering I was hosting I wanted my largest board. I love this one because of it’s handles to make serving super easy.
There are countless pairings you can do when it comes to what you add to the board. I like to include a couple staples and favorites or at least categories.
You will want to have a variety crackers, meats, nuts, dry and fresh fruit, pickles, olives and garnish. I like to have around 3 types of each category.
I included every day finds all from Trader Joes.
Here is your shopping list to replicate this exact board:
Crackers: Trader Giotto's Rosemary Italian Style Crackers, Fig and Olive crisps, Sharp Cheddar Sourdough Cheese Sticks
Meats: Salami, Prosciutto and Capocollo
Nuts: Sweet and Spicy walnuts and Fancy mixed nuts
Fruit: fresh pear, pomegranate seeds, dried apricots and dried cranberries
Cheese: Smoked Cheese, White Stilton with apricots and Creamy Toscano soaked in Syrah
Pickles and Olives: Cornichons and Marinated Olive duo in lemon and herbs
Garnish: fresh Rosemary and Sage
Steps:
Place three white ramekins in a triangle shape in the center of the board about 2 inches apart.
Stack each type of cracker in a star shape next to each of the ramekins
Add the cheese next to each cracker pile. I like to make sure the lighter colored crackers are paired with the darker cheeses to make a contrast in color. For example, pair the Stilton next to the Fig and Olive crisps and the soaked Toscano with the plum edges next to the Rosemary crackers.
Next add in the meats. I like to fold and twist the slices to make them look less stiff. Tuck in the pieces next to the cheeses.
Divide the pear slices and fan them in a pile on opposite sides of each other on the board. Do the same with the dried apricots. The fruit will create a cross if looking down on the board.
You should be getting fairly full by this point with just a couple holes. You can easily fill the holes with little clusters of nuts and dried cranberries.
Fill each of the ramekins with the olives, pomegranates and pickles.
Tuck in the rosemary and sage for pops of green.
Viola!