Festive Market Cheeseboard

When I think of the festive season, thoughts of gathering around the table with family and friends, enjoying each other’s company and sharing food comes to mind.

One of my favourite ways to entertain and share food during the holidays is with a cheeseboard. To this day, putting together the cheeseboard for my parent’s Christmas Eve dinner is one of my fondest holiday memories – my Mom buys all our family’s much-loved cheeses, meats and accompaniments, then I set out to create the cheeseboard just before everyone arrives for the evening.

Cheeseboards are versatile and you can make them your own using your favourite seasonal ingredients. That’s why I love to create them! You can put all of your creative spirit and love into a dish that is meant for sharing.  A cheeseboard is one of my go-to easy entertaining recipes, especially during the holidays.

So, I’ve partnered with Castello to bring you my Festive Market Cheeseboard which is inspired by my holiday memories and seasonal ingredients which are easy to find in your local grocery store.  This cheeseboard is sure to wow your guests and make it easy to entertain this season!

Castello has a wide range of cheeses to suit your personal tastes. And, what I love is that their cheeses span from traditional to their own unique recipes and are always made with natural ingredients.

For my Festive Market Cheeseboard, I chose a classic combination of cheeses – one hard cheese, one soft cheese and one fragrant cheese. Accompanying the cheeses, I used seasonal fruits plus a spicy chorizo that not only brings a pop of colour to the cheeseboard but adds tons of flavour!

Here is how to build my Festive Market Cheeseboard with Castello Cheese:

Total Time: 15 minutes (plus 30 minutes if you’re making my Cranberry-Pear Chia Seed Jam)
Equipment: Cheeseboard (a platter or wooden cutting board works well too), small knives
Servings: 6-8 (as an appetizer)

Ingredients:

Cheeses:
Castello Tickler Extra Mature Cheddar (150-200g)
Castello Double Crème White (1 package)
Castello Extra Creamy Danish Blue (1 package)

Fruit:
1 x red Anjou Pear, sliced
1 x green Anjou Pear, sliced
1 x recipe of my Cranberry Pear Chia Seed Jam
4-5 small mandarin oranges

Meat:
1-2 Spicy Chorizo Sausages (cured), sliced

Crackers:
1 x package of plain biscuit crackers
1 x package of cashew & cranberry crisps crackers
1 x package of honey, fig & olive oil crackers
**You can always switch out for whichever crackers you can find your local grocery store**

Nuts:
½-1 cup roasted almonds

Garnish:
Fresh Rosemary
Cranberries

Instructions:

Start by arranging the three types of Castello cheese on your cheeseboard and then begin to fill in the remaining space with the rest of your ingredients.

You can use my Festive Market Cheeseboard photos to help guide your design or go with your own creative presentation! Don’t worry about fitting everything on the cheeseboard to start with; you can always refill when needed.

Here are a few helpful tips based on the ingredients I’ve chosen:

–       The pears pair beautifully with the Castello Extra Creamy Danish Blue given its richness and milder ‘blue cheese’ taste

–       My Cranberry-Pear Chia Seed Jam is a delicious topper to the Castello Double Crème White which is luscious and creamy; toasted almonds are also a lovely match to this cheese

–       The pears and chorizo are great accompaniments to the Castello Tickler Extra Mature Cheddar; the cheddar is also wonderful with the plain biscuit crackers

I hope you enjoy creating this Festive Market Cheeseboard and sharing your creation with family and friends this holiday season!

Do you want to create your own Festive Market Cheeseboard on a gorgeous handcrafted wooden Castello cheeseboard?? You can enter for a chance to win a beautiful cheeseboard from Castello PLUS $20 worth of Castello cheese vouchers to help you entertain this holiday season! {Contest is now closed. Thank you for entering. You will be contacted by Castello by email if you are the winner}

Happy Entertaining!

Until the next cooking adventure,
Jess

Disclaimer: Thank you to Castello for sponsoring this post.  Thank you for supporting the brands that I support. All opinions are my own.