A creative charcuterie graze board that doubles as an eye-catching centerpiece for spring gatherings or date nights at home. Featuring an assortment of meats, fresh fruit, crudité, and cheeses. Inspired by Easter, we mixed in a few chocolate eggs which really makes this board quite festive. This charcuterie graze board comes together in minutes. 

It’s Easter long weekend and if you’re like us, this year’s Easter celebrations are far from traditional. We usually have family dinners on Good Friday or Easter Sunday. I love gathering around the table, coming together over food, eating delicious food and enjoying everyone’s company.  With everything happening around the global pandemic and not being able to spend time with friends and family, even though some of you will be enjoying a traditional Easter dinner and skyping together we decided to take a break this year from cooking such a large feast.

Instead we went with a show stopping spring Easter inspired fruit & charcuterie graze board. Why not put together an epic charcuterie board and take the time to re-connect with your loved ones by assembling a delicious interactive board comprised of mouthwatering cheeses, cured meats, toasted bread, fruits and chocolate.

This is a snack lover’s dream and the best part –NO COOKING!! Just arrange the ingredients harmoniously on the board into a stunning presentation, it’s that easy!

To make a graze board or charcuterie I usually head to my local farmers market and grab things that are in season; however there are no farmers markets currently happening so instead I went to an artisanal grocery store and grabbed several cured meats, cheese options, roasted nuts, spreads, crudités and bread.

Blank Canvas

Start by selecting an oversized board, large enough to artfully arrange each item while maintaining visual order. Think of it as a blank canvas for arranging your ingredients in a way that is stunningly appealing.

Don’t have an oversized board? Order one from one of our local businesses @Dunnwithwood, check out their Instagram page and send them an email for your own beautifully handcrafted charcuterie board!

Prep First

Cut every item that goes on the board so it is ready to eat, place your olives in a bowl and burrata in a bowl –if you’ve never had burrata its very creamy and oozes out, you don’t want it to spill into some of the other items on the board

Start with the fruits

Space each out in their own area, we went with fruit first because we added grapes and they take a lot of room, still leaving lots of room to arrange your main ingredients.

Next arrange your main ingredients

Cheese, meats, and dips are the foundation of the board. You want to leave the cheese at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before digging in. Once you’ve arranged on the board you want to place items around them to suggest what pairs well together.

 CHEESE

Choose two or three different cheeses. Each cheese should be different in shape, colour and flavour. We chose Manchego to slice into sharp triangles. A local soft cheese with rounder edges and left it whole on the board. A creamy burrata which we drizzled Tuscan herb olive oil on top which provides the perfect amount of creaminess that’s easy to spread. Visually divide the board into 3 segments and select an area for each cheese.

CHARCUTERIE

Select two to three types of cured meats. Opt for thinly sliced, beautifully marbled meats, like prosciutto, salami, chorizo and even capicola. We have an array of salami and coppa.

ADD DIMENSION

Bowls are a great way to add height to the board. We placed our olives in one bowl and the creamy burrata in a different bowl for pops of colour. It also helps draw your eye out to the bowl and different textures on the board. We had a small amount of beet hummus left and decided to just throw it directly on the board and arrange some crudités around it like roasted beets, sliced red peppers and sesame sticks. Place the bowls in the remaining gaps.

BREAD or CRACKERS

To create that perfect bite, add toasted baguette slices and artisanal crackers to use as your base for building that perfect bite. We went with an artisanal herb baguette and toasted it on the grill for those gorgeous grill marks, sesame breadsticks and rosemary crackers. Place the bread or crackers into any remaining spaces.

FINISHING TOUCHES

To finish the board place your nuts in the cracks to help fill in the gaps. We even added some delicious Easter chocolates to create a festive look. For the nuts we chose honey roasted peanuts but any gourmet nut would do. Add other common accouterments you may come to find. For beautiful finishing touches add some fresh herbs or flowers.

This ultimate spring grazing board is loaded with goodies spanning from sweet and savory and is such a great way to enjoy this long weekend together with your loved ones. Being stuck inside doesn’t mean you can’t get creative and switch up your dinner routine with this beautiful graze board.

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter! Stay Safe

If you make charturie this weekend don’t forget to tag us @Thecommunalfeast

Print Recipe

SPRING FRUIT & CHARCUTERIE GRAZE BOARD

A creative charcuterie graze board that doubles as an eye-catching centerpiece for spring gatherings or date nights at home. Featuring an assortment of meats, fresh fruit, crudité, and cheeses. Inspired by Easter, we mixed in a few chocolate eggs which really makes this board quite festive. This charcuterie graze board comes together in minutes. 

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Total Time20 minutes mins

Course: Party Foods

Servings: 2 -4

Author: the communal feast

Ingredients

• 1/4 pound genoa salami
• 1/4 pound spicy salami
• 1/4 pound coppa
• 1/2 pound summer sausage cut into rounds
• 5-6 small strawberries
• Handful of blackberries
• Handful of raspberries
• 1 bunch seedless grapes
• Burrata
• 1 jar of large pitted olives
• Manchego cheese
• 1 brick soft white cheese
• 1 artisanal baguette sliced and toasted on the grill –optional
• 1 box of artisanal crackers
• 5-6 sesame breadsticks
• ½ red bell pepper cut into slices
• Spoonful of beet hummus
• 1 jar artisanal bread –we went with bourdon peach and blacktea
• Handful of honey roasted nuts
• Optional chocolate or chocolate eggs

Instructions

• 1. Set out a large board or marble slab. Arrange the grapes and fruit on the board, next arrange your meats and cheeses into different segments of the board, place the olives, spreads, beet hummus and crudités in empty spaces. Tuck in the bread, breadsticks and crackers around the meat and cheese. Fill in the gaps with roasted nuts, chocolate, additional accouterment. Optional to add fresh herbs and flowers for a stunning presentation. Add forks and spreaders as needed. Serve and enjoy!