The Christmas Grazing table

Christmas is all about food, family and friends… but let’s be honest, how many Christmas dinners can one have in December before one is bored of it?

We have an easier version for hosting and it is all about bringing people together and have fun together with food and drinks.

Nowadays is all about the cheese platters and charcuterie boards, and having all these little ‘picky bits’ nicely spread on your kitchen table, kitchen island, dining room table or even a sideboard in your lounge (just be strategic, think of where you want to host and make use of your furniture) is an easy way to tick everyone’s boxes when it comes to food choices.

 

Your centrepiece:

When doing a grazing table always find your centre piece, let it be a quiche, or a baked camembert, or a baked focaccia (very easy to make) . Then start building around it;

Cheese; always have a selection of these 3 categories:

  1. Hard cheeses: Cheddar, parmiggiano reggiano, Lincolnshire poacher , Cornish Yarg
  2. Soft cheeses: Brie, camembert, Roule (various different flavours)
  3. A cheese with a personality (that is how I like to call it) : Wensley dale, goat cheese, Stilton, camberzola, roquefort , Shropshire blue

In terms of presentation, let your guests make the most out of it; the hard cheeses and personality cheeses you can cut them in triangles or small bite size pieces, the soft cheese I suggest you leave the cheese whole and the guest can cut as they go.

Charcuterie:

  1. A classic: Something like Parma ham or bresaola
  2. A Spicy: Salami Milano is quite nice
  3. A substantial: Pork pie, Gala pie, scotch egg, since it is Christmas, you can always opt for some pigs in blankets

Dips:

  • A hummus is always a good idea, you can take it to the next level by adding more ingredients like:
    • Honey roasted carrots
    • Beetroot
    • Spinach
  • A creamy dip:
    • Cheese and chive
    • Tzatziki
  • A honey:
    • Truffle honey
    • Normal honey

Crackers:

In this category again, is all about the shapes, flavours and textures; think of Grissini, salt and pepper crackers, pretzels, cheese crackers… the options are endless

Fillers:

  • Grapes
  • Olives
  • Cherries
  • Satsumas
  • Apples
  • Coconut
  • Dried apricots

 

Sweets items:

  • Dark chocolate
  • Marshmallows
  • Coconut balls
  • Caramelised biscuits
  • Profiteroles
  • Chocolate dipped strawberries

 

Once you start it is an easy process:  Start with covering your table with baking sheets, then add the centrepiece, place your cheeses and dips and add your hams. Then it is a matter of filling the gaps with your crackers and fillers.  As For the sweet items, either do a separate platter or add a section at the end of your table.

Open a bottle of nice bubbly and enjoy with great company