If you're thinking of entertaining friends this summer, celebrating the Royal Wedding with Harry and Meghan on May the 19th or just want to show off your culinary flair, this charcuterie board makes the perfect starter or shared nibbles for 10.
The ingredients can all be prepared in advance – it then takes minutes to assemble. For best results use a griddle pan to char the vegetables. The stripes from the griddle pan look amazing in amongst the other ingredients.
We present this on a long oak table board, this certainly helps in making this a very impressive starter or nibbles for 10.
Ingredients
1 large aubergine – thinly sliced lengthways
2 courgettes – thinly sliced lengthways
3 red peppers – cut into quarters lengthways with stalks attached
70g wild rocket
125g pesto
250g Mozzarella, torn into bite size pieces
50g caper berries
50g black olives
700g air-dried meats, thinly sliced (eg coppa, duck prosciutto, bresaola)
Lemon juice – to drizzle
Olive oil – to drizzle
Balsamic vinegar – to drizzle
Method
To prepare the vegetables
Pre heat oven to 240ºC.
Salt the aubergine in a bowl for 20 minutes.
Drizzle the peppers with olive oil and roast for 20 minutes.
Wash off the aubergine and thoroughly pat dry, then drizzle with olive oil.
Griddle the aubergine and courgette slices on both sides until soft.
Drizzle the courgette with olive oil and lemon juice.
To assemble
Put the wild rocket down the centre of the presentation board.
Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.
Put groups of the roasted peppers at intervals down the board and fill with a teaspoon of pesto.
Arrange all the other ingredients along the board, arranging the air-dried meats in batches.
Season with a crack of black pepper.
You could use any number of different ingredients – sliced salami, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted asparagus for example would all work well. Enjoy!