simple fruit + cheese plate.

You probably don’t need me to tell you how to put together a cheese plate as simple as this one.

A cheese plate doesn’t require a recipe, though you could certainly make your own miniature cheese spreads and salads if you wanted to. For me, I think back to what I learned from Ina long ago: Don’t make everything from scratch when entertaining. If you’re reading this, you probably know that that can be rather difficult for me. For whatever reason, I feel the need to make juices from scratch rather than buying them. I can’t help myself – it’s how I roll. Sometimes I watch Ina buy a pound cake from the market and I think to myself, “I wish I could do that.” Maybe if I had markets as fabulous as Ina has to shop at, I would do things like that. That’s what I tell myself, anyway.

A fruit and cheese plate, however, I truly feel doesn’t require anything homemade. For this menu, this was my one easy, throw-together thing. A sane person has more than just one easy, throw-together thing when they’re entertaining – just so you know.

I served a beautiful wedge of good blue cheese, which I drizzled in honey – one of my favorite combinations; a wheel of Brie, which I think is a must when you’re cooking for a group of ladies, as most women love Brie for some reason; and Boursin cheese, because you always want to offer a spreadable cheese, and the ladies happen to love this stuff, too. I would typically include a hard cheese, like a nice aged Cheddar, or this fabulous espresso cheese one of my besties recently introduced to me.

Crackers should make an appearance. I love anything from Carr’s. They have a huge variety, and I think they’re elegant – I bought a huge multi-pack from Costco once that still makes me happy.

You’ll want some fruit – I think grapes are a duh! type of a thing to serve, and strawberries were nice because they were beautiful and in-season – not to mention we were drinking champagne. Lots of it. I also cut up some plums and those went quickly, so as you can see, you can really add anything you like. Now that we’re entering fig season, those would be extra-lovely, but then I’d feel the need to add some prosciutto, and perhaps roast them – so we’ll save that idea for another day.

Cheese is my everything after all, so I’m sure we’ll have another opportunity to discuss it soon.