A Holiday Charcuterie Platter with Kerrygold Cheese

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Once a month my husband and I enjoy a cheese platter for dinner.   It’s an easy dinner and something that we both look forward too.  It usually includes several cheeses, crackers, nuts, and occasionally some grapes.  We also have a glass of wine with it as well.   But every now and then I like to take it up a notch a make a full on charcuterie platter.   What exactly is a charcuterie platter?   Good question!

Holiday Charcuterie Platter with cured meats, cheeses, fruits, nuts, and more!

Simply speaking charcuterie is a cold cooked meat such as ham, sausage, and bacon.  Basically it’s a lot of pork meats.   Whenever a charcuterie platter is made it generally contains these delicious cured meats, cheeses, nuts, fruits, some type of sweet garnish, some type of acidic vegetable, and either a cracker or bread.  This is totally a winning dinner for my husband and I but it’s also an easy but stunning appetizer platter to serve at the holidays.   I created this Holiday Charcuterie Platter around a variety of Kerrygold Cheeses.

Before building a Charcuterie Platter the best thing to do is choose your meats and cheeses.  Everything else can be built around those.  I chose to go with Kerrygold Aged Cheddar, Dubliner with Irish Stout, and Blarney Castle.   The Aged Cheddar is a pasteurized, grass-fed cowโ€™s milk cheese that is aged for one year and undergoes a stringent grading process as it matures.  It’s the perfect start to a Charcuterie Platter.  The Dubliner with Irish Stout brings out the sweet, nutty, rich flavor of Dubliner Cheese and swirls and tumbles it together with the malty, caramel, bitter flavor of a perfect pint of Irish Stout.  Blarney Castle is a mild and creamy cowโ€™s milk cheese with rich and velvety undertones.

Kerrygold Cheese

Next I chose two meats to go along with the platter.  I feel that you need at least 2 meats but no more then three.  My husband actually picked out the meats and chose a smoked ham and a salami to go along with the platter.   Both meats had a ton of flavor and just the right amount of salt in them.   From there I started choosing other things to go on the platter.

For the nuts I chose smoked almonds because I thought the smoked flavor would pair well with the meats.   My favorite fruit to put on a cheese tray is grapes and I went with seedless black grapes on this holiday version.  Next I went to the basement to look through my homemade jams and find one that went with my holiday theme.  The Mixed Berry Jam with Herbs was exactly what I was looking for.  Big chunks of sweet berries with savory herbs was amazing with these cheeses.

Next I went to the Mediterranean bar at my local supermarket and choose a few acidic vegetables.   I choose some blue cheese stuffed olives, red peppadews, green olives, and ham stuffed peppers.  These looked so amazing I had a hard time not easting them ahead of time!   I wrapped up the platter with two types of crackers and several crostini.

The results were a beautiful Holiday Charcuterie Platter that I was able to pull together in less then 25 minutes.  The flavors all complimented each other and looked wonderful too.   My husband and I enjoyed sampling this platter and I can’t wait to serve a similar one at our Christmas party this year!

So remember, when creating your own Holiday Charcuterie Platter, use the following checklist:

  • 2-3 dry cured meats (I used the smoked ham and salami)
  • 2-3 good quality cheeses (Kerrygold cheeses are one of the best!)
  • 1 type of nuts
  • 1 type of fruit
  • 1-2 sweet garnishes
  • Several acidic vegetables
  • Crackers or bread

Learn how to build a Holiday Charcuterie Platter!

Are you making a Charcuterie Platter for the holidays this year?   If so, leave me a comment letting me know what your favorite foods are to put on a Charcuterie Platter!

I received a variety of cheese from Kerrygold but all opinions are 100% my own.

 

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