A Garden Table for Twelve
Finger Foods
NotADrink

A Garden Table for Twelve

A late-summer grazing table for 12. Cheese, charcuterie, vegetables, dips, bread.

Time
35 min
Makes
Serves 12
Difficulty
Medium
Crowd

Method

1

Take the brie out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving. Cube the cheddar and the blue; set aside.

2

Lay the cheeses on the board in a loose S-curve: cheddar at 10 o'clock, brie in the center, blue at 2 o'clock.

3

Tuck the prosciutto and sopressata in and around the cheeses — torn prosciutto in small clusters, sopressata fanned out.

4

Place the cherry tomatoes, artichokes, and roasted peppers in three small dishes or directly on the board in three loose piles.

5

Place the olive tapenade and hummus in small dishes near the bread.

6

Fan the baguette slices along the bottom of the board. Tuck the grapes in clusters between the cheeses. Sprinkle the almonds over the board.

7

Lay the rosemary sprigs across the top as a scent marker. Serve at room temperature with a separate knife for each cheese.

From the kitchen

Negative space is the dish. A crowded board is a sad board.

Story so far
The rule for a 12-person grazing table: 6 oz cheese per person, 4 oz meat per person, 2 cups vegetables, 1.5 cups dips, 1 bread per person. We use a 24x36-inch wooden board; the layout is a loose 'S' curve with the cheeses anchoring the bend and the bread as the spine. The rest — meats, vegetables, dips, fruit — fills in around them. The trick is to leave negative space. A crowded board is a sad board. Build the table in 30 minutes, but assemble in 5: the cheese needs 30 minutes to come to room temperature before service.