Field to Feast: Ultimate Charcuterie Board with Circle M Farms
My favorite meal of the day is “linner” or “dunch”, when you start to get a little sleepy and a little hungry around 3pm. It’s kind of a late lunch or an early dinner, and we like to call it Happytizer Time! One of the best ways to enjoy happytizers is with a Charcuterie Board. In this week’s Field to Feast, we went to Washington Parish in search of the best cheeses to showcase on our happytizer grazing board.
Chef Yvette Bonnano and I visited Circle M Farms in Franklinton, where Nathan and Erin Miller have 40 acres of beautiful farmland. They raise beef, pork, chickens and eggs, and have a purebred Nubian dairy goat herd. From this herd the Millers have launched Southern Maids Dairy and are producing some of the cleanest tasting chèvre and feta on the market.
After visiting with their adorable goats, (my favorite was Gladys Knight), we moved into the cheese room and Chef Yvette started to build out her own Charcuterie board. Her first ingredient was the local cheeses Nathan provided, fresh Chèvre and Feta. These cheeses are truly crave worthy. From there, Yvette gave us a play by play on how to build out the perfect Charcuterie board which can best be described as edible art.
Try new things. Don’t be afraid to explore. Pile high and enjoy! Happy Happytizers to you and yours!
Smile always,
Jenn Finley
Here are Chef Yvette’s tips to building out the perfect Charcuterie Board. Enjoy your Happytizer Time! And for the perfect background music, I recommend Gladys Knight singing Georgia on My Mind.
Letting the local cheese shine is a very important part to putting together a Charcuterie Board. Go to your local farmers market or grocery store and pick out a hard cheese, a soft cheese, a vein cheese, an aged cheese, a blue cheese, and then put it together so it looks attractive. Most importantly, start with a cheese you have not tried. The delicious Cheve and Feta from Southern Maids Dairy is the perfect show starter for us.
I like to add preserves. Today I am adding fig preserves that I made from local figs out of Port Arthur. There are many delicious preserves at your local farmers market and in the local section of your grocery store. Don’t be afraid to try new preserves or preserves with a little spice to them. I also like to add local honey to my board.
We are going to add nuts and olives to our board. And then add meats like prosciutto, salami, and capicola. Finish off with fresh fruits including grapes, strawberries, apricots, fresh figs, and more. Today I have also made lavash crackers to add to our board, which is simply lavash bread that you put into the oven with a little bit of olive oil.
LINKS
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