Ina Garten's Ultimate Cheese Platter | Barefoot Contessa | Food Network

so the three things I love about a cheese  platter are first that it's an entire course   at a dinner party no cooking at all how  great is that the second thing I like is   when you bring it to the table and put it down  in the middle people just go crazy it's really   simple to do but it's so impressive and I  think the third thing is even though it's   very elegant it's really sort of family style  everybody helps themselves and it's really   fun and you know my motto is if it's not fun  it's not done so let's make a cheese platter foreign [Music] for fig leaves so the Dirty  Little Secret of East Hampton is The Season's   really too short for the figs to develop  but I use fig leaves for all kinds of things   platters cheese trays they're really great because  they're flat and they're big and they're gorgeous   I just take them in wash them off dry them and  use them and you can save them in the fridge so the first thing I always do with a cheese  platter is put down some green leaves these   are fig leaves from my garden but if you  don't have a fig tree in your garden you   can use hydrangea leaves you can go to the  florist and get Galax leaves whatever you   have that's sort of big green and flat okay  the next thing I always do is I always put   a big bunch of grapes right in the middle it  can be a couple of Bunches of grapes actually   the first time I did a cheese platter was  like 40 years ago and my friend Anna pump   was with me and I did I don't know what it  looked like but it probably looked like a   dog's breakfast and she came over to me and she  said okay now take everything off the platter   I was like okay and then she said okay now put the  grapes in the middle the cheese around the outside   and Big Blocks of crackers and apricots and  then she said and stop those are two really good   lessons is to do it really simply and beautifully  and then stop okay so we've got a big bunch of   grapes in the middle and then I'm gonna put the  cheeses on the outside as Anna taught me so I have   different kinds of cheeses I like soft ripening  cheeses like Brie this is one I have a blue cheese   this is English Stilton which I adore and you  want the rinds in and the cheese facing out and   this is incredible this is pecorino with truffles  so it's an Italian cheese it's just so flavorful   and the last one is a goat cheese so now I've  got all different shapes and flavors I've got   creamy things I've got crumbly things I've got  hard sharp things and the goat cheese which is   called fleurved is a very creamy goat cheese with  herbs on the outside so just put that right there   so now I've got extra space on the platter to put  other things and I love things that like go with   cheese so fresh strawberries are great so I'm just  going to put a big bunch of fresh strawberries on   and just kind of paint it you know just keep  it really casual so when I do a cheese platter   I always do it as a second course so there's  a main course the cheese course and dessert   and you want to do it not when you're making  filet be for dinner and like chocolate mousse   for dessert because people go home holding their  bellies going oh I'm never eating again you don't   want that so I always do it when I have something  light light like fish or a stew like a fish stew   and then I serve something like granita  for dessert because this is a pretty rich   course so that's strawberries then I'm going  to do some maybe some apricots in the middle   so big blocks of color you don't want it  to look like that original one that I did   which looked like a dog's breakfast and then I  always like other things that taste good with   it so a little fig Jam is wonderful like the  blue cheese and the Fig Jam is great together   so I'm just gonna I mean  really this all store-bought   just put a little Bowl in with fresh fig Jam a  little knife and everybody can help themselves   sometimes people serve cheese as  a first course like before dinner   I just interesting people fill up on cheese  you want it to be like a treat after dinner I love this I love fig jamming Stilton  together okay now crackers so I have   different shaped crackers and different colors  of crackers so I like crackers like these sticks they're really delicious just like that  just put them right on and then I have   dark crackers that are like little crisp base so  I'm just going to put them around I don't have   any room which is exactly what's when it looks  the best when it's all like full and sumptuous   if you're gonna make a cheese powder for a lot  of people don't get more kinds of cheese just get   big bigger pieces or cheese butter for smaller  group the same thing smaller pieces of cheese okay I think I'm gonna do one more thing  I'm gonna I'd like a little height on this   um Brie so what I'm going to do is take a little  piece of it and just put it right on top so now   it's got a little more height kind of matches  the other ones and I've got one more thing I've   got a fig ball this is dried figs let's see  how this is going to go on and I'm just gonna   I'm gonna open the Fig ball and it's  dried and wrapped in fig leaves and   just open the whole thing so people can help  themselves cut it in half that's a good idea and you'll see all the figs inside oh all these  dried figs that's really great I mean that doesn't   look half bad does it hang on a moment let  me just show you that again [Music] foreign I mean how easy was that it's five  minutes it looks really impressive   and there's no cooking at  all That's What I Call fun [Music]   this recipe and more can be found in my book  cooking for Jeffrey or at barefootcontessa.com

Channel: Food Network

Views: 256,801

Keywords: food network, food, cooking, how-to, how to make, cook, recipes, easy recipe, food network recipe, barefoot contessa, ina garten, cooking tips, how to cook, ina garten tip, ina garten recipe, at home cooking, how to entertain, entertaining, dinner party, Sauteed veggies, Ultimate Cheese Platter, Cheese Platter, cheese, cheese platter, party recipes, appetizer, appetizer recipe, how to make a cheese platter, cheese board, Brie, blue cheese, goat cheese, Cheese Board, Dinner Party

Id: kspp-Ludy6k

Length: 6min 26sec (386 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 19 2023