How To Assemble a Cheese Board Appetizer

Our absolutely massive roundup of every cheese we've ever reviewed got us thinking about cheese boards and our favorite appetizer: a spread of little nibbles. Here's how we like to put together this easy, low-key, yet roughly elegant hors d'ouevre.

If we're going to still be busy with the meal when guests arrive, we like to put out a board of little nibbles, including some cheese.This is the sort of cooking that is really more about shopping, and we're OK with that, when it comes to an appetizer. In fact, we usually start with one good cheese and build from there.

We save large cheese boards with multiple cheeses for desserts or end-of-meal treats; one cheese and a lot of other contrasting nibbles are better when starting a meal.

We think of it in terms of balance; a good appetizer cheese board should have a little of everything:

• Sweet: Usually fruit, like the green grapes above. Snip the grapes into little stems of two or three grapes before arranging on the board. Peaches sliced into thin slivers are nice, too, as well as apples cut paper thin with a mandoline.
• Tangy: Usually a chutney or a fruit or vegetable spread. Sometimes I add a tangy jam, like the ginger and green tomato chutney also on this board. Depending on the cheese, a rich cherry jam is also nice, or a spicier Indian chutney.
• Savory: I like spiced or herbed nuts. The nuts above are sweet and spicy rosemary walnuts from my favorite greengrocer. You could also add some prosciutto or ham.
• Salty: Crackers or nuts. Also, popcorn tossed with olive oil and herbs is a fun starter.
• Creamy: The cheese on this particular board was an unctuous Brie-like goat cheese from Lake Erie Creamery (their award-winning "Blomma" - highly recommended!).
• Crunchy: The nuts and crackers were pleasingly crunchy, in contrast with the tender grapes and oozy cheese.

Presentation is half the package in an appetizer like this. But it's not difficult; I unwrapped the cheese and arranged it with some crackers, and took the nuts out of their plastic box and put them in a ceramic bowl. I left the chutney in its jar, since there isn't a label on the jar, but usually I would put it out in a small ramekin too.

Add a good wine — in this case, an inexpensive but crisp and refreshing chilled vinho verde — and you're all set for happy nibbles.

OK, your turn. What do you like to serve on an appetizer board like this? Any favorite cheeses and pairings? This is such a fun part of building a meal; layering little nibbles like this. What's your favorite combination?

(Image: Faith Durand)

Comments (10)

I always add 1-2 whole apples sliced in half with a paring knife to encourage guests to "slice their own". This eliminates the need to "juice" apples to prevent browning and lets people participate in their food! They love it.

We typically either:

1. purposely buy things that go together and are tasty; or

2. use up whatever we happen to have around.

Some favourites are different deli meats (spicy salami, prosciutto), a preserve, some baguette or crackers, olives, a cut up pear, a cheese of some sort, and either cherry tomatoes cut in half or sliced cucumber, with a small dish of sea salt to sprinkle on top.

appetizer? this is dinner some nights!

I agree w/adding the cured meats (we have a serrano ham in a holder and encourage people to take a slice or three)... I also like adding little bowls of caponata/tapenade to the mix.

I'm with roseslaw, who needs dinner when there's cheese and crackers?

I usually like hard cheeses like cheddar, gruyere or manchego (though sometimes havarti or even a laughing cow wedge...) with some wheat crackers, maybe strawberries or a plum. And I would not say no to olives, salami, prosciutto or nuts either.

For a little bit of sweet/salty, especially with apples, tonkatsu sauce is good.

Similarly, you could do up a cheese board around cream cheese. Either a homemade bread, like banana nut or zucchini, with some fruit alongside or maybe crackers or bread with sliced radishes and salt.

What a great list of cheeses! I agree with previous comments - cured meats such as prosciutto or salami. However, I also like something fresh and slightly sweet to off-set the cheese, such as apples, grapes, or strawberries.

A couple of my favorite cheeses: Humboldt fog (unbelievable) and Woolwich's Goat Brie (I'm a huge Brie fan and this is one of my favorites).

(mmmmmm... I love radishes w/salt) ...but I add butter first - I thought it was strange when I first saw a Frenchman doing it, but hey. It's delicious! That's a great idea - I'm adding it to my cheese board next time.

I leave the fruit for dessert. At appetizer/cocktail time it's all about making people thirsty for a drink, so I stick to the salty and the spicy: hard cheese, crackers, olives, veggies and dip. TJ's had these Thai-seasoned cashews that were really good but I've only seen the peanut version lately.

After seeing this, I made up a cheeseboard for dinner Saturday night with mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, grapes, apple slices, green olives, crackers and some shrimp with cocktail sauce for a little bit of protein.

Even better, we had enough of everything except the shrimp the next day to eat for lunch. It was great.

does anyone have suggestions for making this work for a larger scale event? i am expecting 200 guests for an art exhibition and would love to have cheese boards rather than platters of pre-sliced cheeses...