You don't have to be a whizz in the kitchen to impress this Christmas! Make the most of the glorious organic summer produce arriving in store daily to whip up delicious, eye watering, no-cook creations in under half an hour.
The variety of taste explosions are only part of the pleasure of this style of eating - you also receive the highly coveted gift of time. Whether you choose to spend it with family and friends or curled up under a tree with the latest best seller is entirely up to you.
There really are no hard and fast rules to making a platter and it's a great opportunity to play around with colour and flavours. Here are a few handy tips to make sure yours is fail-safe.
- Be keenly aware of your 'wet' and 'dry' areas. The last thing you want is your sauerkraut or olive juice making your crackers soggy. Use buffers such as cheese and fresh produce between these areas.
- Play around with colour so that your platter looks balanced. Strawberries, edible flowers, herbs and other fresh produce are are great way of giving your platter the wow factor.
- Reduce awkward eating - no one likes to be the first to open a brand new round of cheese so make it enticing and welcoming by cutting it open before serving. Have a small bowl nearby for olive pits avoids people putting the pits back on the platter (which is never a good look!). And make sure you have the tools to enable easy grazing from table to tum (knives, spoons etc).
- Make sure you have enough bread and crackers on hand for people to use for items such as cheese. Very often you will see a platter looking largely untouched because all the crackers have gone. You will likely need to top up your supply as the amount you will ultimately need will overwhelm your platter. Alternatively you can have this separately but closeby.
As for the selection you want to offer, you are only limited by the time you want to spend and your own creativity. Here are 3 quick and easy ideas to get you started.
Organic Vegan Platter
The standard of vegan food these days is so good that you can easily pull this off for the whole whanau to enjoy without anyone feeling like there's something missing. While fresh produce is a consistent performer in any platter, we reckon the star of this show is the Terra smoked cheese.
Traditional Platter with an Organic Twist
If you are not quite convinced that a platter can exist without cold meat, make sure the meat you choose is organic, ethically raised and preserved without harmful chemicals. The incredibly delicious Woodie's range is the perfect accompaniment together with the farm raised Aoraki salmon.
Sweet Delights Waste-Free Platter
With so much deliciousness available 'naked' now, the beauty of this platter is that everything on the plate can be purchased waste-free! With Fair Trade, organic chocolate from She Universe and The Wellington Chocolate Factory we're firm believers that you can't get too much of a good thing!
The opportunities to delight are endless and we'd love to see what you come up for your grazing plates this summer. Tag us on Facebook or Instagram so we can see your creations.
Enjoy!