Ring in the New Year with a New Year's Eve Cheese Board worth celebrating! It's inspired by New Year's Eve food traditions said to bring good luck!
This post may contain affiliate links. Making a purchase through one of these links helps support this blog.
There are only a few days left in 2017. How are you going to take advantage of the end of the year? Me? I decided to squeeze in one last recipe post. I don't know about you, but I live for holiday traditions! Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve have become evenings of sitting in our pajamas, eating appetizers for dinner, and Christmas cookies for dessert. It's casual, it's quiet, and it's a great way to relax before our busy holiday gatherings the next day!
I usually make a couple trays of frozen appetizers and a shrimp cocktail ring for dinner. After we eat, the shrimp gets put back in the fridge and I leave the trays out for us to snack on throughout the night. This year, I've been all about making holiday appropriate cheese boards. So I plan on putting this cheese board together for New Year's Eve this year.
Since I'm all about holiday traditions, did you know that there are a bunch of food traditions tied in with New Year's Eve? Certain foods are said to be lucky if you consume them on New Year's Eve or New Year's Day.
For instance, eating 12 grapes at midnight (one grape for each month of the year) is considered lucky in some cultures. Also, eating round foods symbolizes the year coming full circle. Most pigs are big and round. So pork is also lucky because it symbolizes prosperity.
These traditions are perfect to incorporate into a New Year's Eve cheese board. After all, a great cheese board has a combination of soft and hard textures, as well as sweet and savory flavors.
It seemed pretty obvious to make my sweet element white grapes. Small bunches of grapes look great spread out across a cheese board. The flavor pairs well with most cheeses. Especially if you include a wine-soaked wedge like I did! Extra bunches of grapes were placed in a bowl with clementines - everyone's favorite holiday citrus fruit!
I really wanted my board to stand out for New Year's Eve. So I cut soft Colby Jack and a Sharp White Cheddar into stars using a small cookie cutter (save the excess cheese to use in other dishes). Then, I added a whole wedge of Creamy Toscano Cheese Soaked in Syrah. It adds a pop of color to the board, plus it's one of my favorite cheeses from Trader Joe's! Then, I added small, round slices of Provolone to add some intensity in flavor.
My choices of meat were definitely ones made of pork. Like most of my cheese boards, I added slices of salty prosciutto. I also added slices of salami and mini pepperoni bites. Then, I pulled this cheese board together with marinated olives and crunchy cheese sticks.
Here's the exact breakdown of everything that I included on my New Year's Eve cheese board:
- 1/2 block Colby Jack cheese
- 1/2 block Sharp White Cheddar cheese
- Pepperoni Salamini
- Seedless green grapes
- Melting Parmesan Cheese Sticks
- Marinaded Olive Duo
- Genoa Salami and Provolone
- Prosciutto
- Creamy Toscano Cheese Soaked in Syrah
- Clementines
My actual collection of cheese boards seems to have grown a bit this year. For this New Year's Eve cheese board, I arranged everything on a gold dipped board that I found at HomeGoods. However, this gold dipped wooden alternative would look pretty for New Year's Eve, as well!
I can't guarantee that this cheese board will bring luck and prosperity in the New Year. But I can guarantee that it'll be a perfect bite to nibble on while you ring in the New Year!
Did you make this New Year's Eve Cheese Board recipe? Share it on social media using the hashtag #holokahome. Don’t forget to tag me @holokahome!
2 comments