A beautifully decorated diverse cheese plate is a frequent guest of any festive table. This is a delicious light snack that goes well with a variety of alcoholic drinks and hot dishes. If you wish, you can even make it the center of the table, adding suitable sauces.
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Cheese plate composition
The composition of the cheese plate can be completely different.
First of all, it depends on what hot dishes and other snacks are served for the holiday.
For example, if the table is rich, plentiful, then 3-4 types of cheeses and one sauce for them will be enough. If the cheese plate becomes the main treat of a small party, then its contents should be made more interesting and varied.
There are three types of assortment at once. The first is served as a complement to light European snacks, champagne and dry wines.
It includes:
- Expensive elite blue cheese, such as Roquefort, Gorgonzola and Dorblu.
- Soft cow cheeses like camembert and brie.
- Solid - Parmesan, Gruyeres.
Additions to them are also usually chosen lungs - fruits, nuts, berries.
The second type of assortment goes well with hearty Russian dishes and strong drinks (fortified wines, cognac, vodka).
It includes:
- Hard / semi-hard cheese, e.g. Dutch, Poshekhonsky, Gouda.
- Brine varieties. Among them - the Suluguni, "Mary", chekil.
- Smoked - "pigtail", processed sausage.
As additions to such a plate, pita bread, matnakashi, tortillas, all kinds of fresh greens, chips, crackers are selected.
The third type of assortment can be called universal. And best of all, it goes with vegetable salads, seafood, low-fat meat dishes, light and strong wines.
It includes:
- Pickled cheeses, such as mozzarella and feta.
- Solid / semi-solid - cheddar, maasdam.
- Goat and sheep piquant varieties - Brunost, Chevr.
As delicious additives to such cheeses, you can choose a variety of nuts, vegetable oils with spices, dried fruits, fresh fruits and vegetables.
What is the appetizer for?
Supplements for a cheese plate also depend on its component and the general menu. But natural are considered to be natural bee honey, assorted nuts, and different grape varieties. Serve beautifully cheese with honey and nuts on one large common plate. For example, a sweet sauce with red ground pepper added to it can be placed right in the middle of the dish, and all snacks can be laid out around.
If you plan a light snack table with champagne and soft wines, then, in addition to a cheese plate, you should put on it fruit and berry assorted dates, figs, onion marmalade, a variety of nuts and sweet jams. For more satisfying hot treats, it is better to serve a lot of fresh herbs (cilantro, spring onion, dill, parsley), potato, corn, as well as pita chips made from pita bread, salted crackers, walnuts and peanuts, garlic, and nutty sauces.
Vegetables with cheese appetizer combine sweet cherry and sweet red, yellow, orange pepper. From fruits, except grapes, also: peaches, pears, apples are suitable.
As sauces for cheeses, you can serve not only honey with different additives, but also butter, for example, olive, infused with garlic and spices.
Decoration for the festive table
It is very important to take care not only of the composition, but also of the design of the cheese plate. It is easy to cope with this task with a beautiful large plate with special divisions for snacks.
How beautifully chopped cheese
For each individual cheese there is a special slicing technique. It is very important to grind them individually. The cheese structure easily absorbs foreign odors, therefore, for example, soft goat cheese after cutting on a dirty board can suddenly get a smoked flavor.
Soft varieties are best crushed with triangles or cubes of even shape and about the same size, and hard ones with thin, neat slices. If at home there are cookie cutters or gingerbread cookie cutters, then you can also use them in your work. It is especially convenient to cut a solid or semi-solid product with them.
By the way, to make the cheese cut better, you should get it from a cool place about half an hour before chopping. But all this time he must remain in the package or under a glass cover, otherwise the product will airy.
Mozzarella is beautifully served in the form of balls. You can also cut it into semicircular or rectangular medium slices. It all depends on what shape the cheese head was originally. Feta is usually served in neat large cubes, but pickled cheeses are served in thin round or rectangular slices.
It is very beautifully able to cut the product with a special knife with a wavy blade. Such a "tool" can be found in most dish shops.
Which plate to choose
There is a rule to serve soft cheeses on any beautiful plate of glass or a special dish on a thin leg. But for solid and semi-solid grades of the product, wooden boards are taken.
Special cheese plates with dividers, which are usually sold complete with a glass lid and a thin cutting knife, are very convenient when serving cheese. But clay, porcelain, ceramic containers with any design of the hostess's choice are also suitable.
To organize a party with friends or get-togethers with the whole family, it is not necessary to spend all day at the stove. A beautifully decorated cheese plate with sauces and a few delicious additions will be enough.
