Cool Weather Cheese & Fruit Platter | Entertaining Ideas
A cheese platter featuring seasonal fruit, cheeses and quince paste.
Whenever I'm composing a cheese and fruit platter, I first-and-foremost take into consideration the occasion at hand, followed by the time of year. I like to use seasonal ingredients and think it makes for a more festive platter. In this case, I was putting together a platter for a girls night in November, therefore I wanted to use cool-weather crops...even though cool weather can be hard to come by in the great state of Texas.
For this platter a nice crisp and semi-tart apple (Jazz, Honeycrisp or even Pink Ladies would do) and some good ol' Bosc pears. I sliced the fruit a little differently as you can probably see in the photo, making the cut against the entire body of the fruit, leaving stems and seeds in tact rather than cutting it into pieces. A tip I picked up from one of my very most favorite cookbook authors, Georgeanne Brennan. I also chose to use dried cranberries and quince paste. I almost always use a jam of some sort on my fruit and cheese platters. If you're not down with quince, you can always substitute an apple or pumpkin butter.
To balance out the weight of the quince bowl, I used grapes -- a fruit I find necessary on just about any cheese platter, as it pairs well with just about every cheese known to man. You might also notice dried cranberries scattered across the top. It makes for a nice contrast in color and texture...plus, they're tasty.
Next, on to the cheese itself. I took the fruit into consideration first, based on the season, now I will take the cheese into consideration based on the fruit. I want cheeses that will pair well with my produce. In this case, I chose to use a Gruyere, sharp, aged Cheddar and Wensleydale with Cranberries. All of which are mild cheeses just about anyone would enjoy...unless you're my husband, and fruit in your cheese freaks you out. In which case, nix the Wensleydale and go with a nice Gouda instead.
Lastly, the crackers. When you are choosing crackers for your cheese tray, I think it's great to have a little variety but this is not the time for heavily salted, crazy flavored crackers. A mix of water crackers or stone ground crackers would do nicely.
Ingredients for Platter:
Apples
Pears
Grapes
Dried Cranberries
Quince Paste
Gruyere
Aged White Cheddar
Wensleydale with Cranberries
Plain Water Crackers
Stoneground Wheat Crackers
Would pair well with:
Buttery White Wine, such as Chardonnay
Light Red Wine, such as Pinot Noir
