This past weekend was both Valentine's Day and Family Day, a holiday here in Canada. What better way to show those you love - friends and family, than with a heart-themed charcuterie board!
I love making charcuterie boards when I entertain. I feel like a single board can cover all taste preferences, both sweet and savoury. It's easier than making multiple appetizers, and a charcuterie board can be vegetarian as well if you opt out of the cured meats.
For the Heartfelt Sweet and Savoury Board, I kept the colour palette to reds, purples and pink tones, with neutral crackers and cheeses. A few theme decorations, such as "XO" and heart picks and chocolates were added to keep the board fun and holiday appropriate.
When I make a charcuterie board, I usually try stick to my formula...
*something soft
*something hard
*something crunchy
*something stinky
*something brined
*something cured
*something fresh
*something fruity, and
*sometimes something sweet.
I also normally add at least one to two dips to a charcuterie board.
In keeping to that formula, here's what I included on the Heartfelt Sweet & Savoury Charcuterie Board
*something soft - double brie cheese wheel with a heart cut-out & soft goat cheese with a port reduction sauce
*something hard - cubed extra-old aged cheddar & Wensleydale cranberry cheese (Baby Bell individual cheese with hearts cut out would be cute as well)
*something crunchy - spiced pecans & toasted pistachios (sliced veggies would also work)
*something stinky - pickled beet hummus (usually I add a blue cheese, but wanted something purple)
*something brined - purple olives (sliced or whole red peppadew peppers would be great too)
*something cured - proscuitto roses, folded salami Italian spicy salami & folded finocchiona - Italian salami with garlic, black pepper and fennel (my favourite finocchiona is from handmade by Oyama Meats on Granville Island - it's amazing)
*something fresh - fresh herbs
*something fruity - strawberry hearts, fresh cut figs, dates & red grapes (jams or honey and cut red plum slices would also be nice here), and
*something sweet - Hershey's chocolate hugs and kisses.
A roasted red pepper dip would work lovely with a heartfelt theme as well.
For crackers I used beet chip crackers (not shown), red and black Laiki rice crackers, Breton vegetable crackers and rye crisps that I broke into smaller square pieces.
The highlight of the Heartfelt Charcuterie board (I might be biased though), was the chocolate "cheese" mice (here), shown in image below. How cute are they?
I also think that adding a few Salted Dark Chocolate Figs (recipe here) would take this Heartfelt Sweet and Savoury Charcuterie Board to whole other level. Yum!
Charcuterie boards are wonderful appetizers, they're easy to make (very little actual cooking is involved) and you can add whatever items you have in your cupboard. Charcuterie boards allow you to let-loose your creative side, whether it's a holiday theme board (my Fall Pumpkin charcuterie board is coming soon - I'm totally behind on that post, I know!), a Rainbow board, or even a My Favourite Things board.
I hope you have fun creating your own Heartfelt Sweet & Savoury Charcuterie Board. Send photos my way or post to #mykuratedlife on social, I'd love to see what you make!
Wishing you and your families a wonderful Valentine's Day & Family Day.
Enjoy,
Krista
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