September 20, 2022
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Summer is coming to an end and it’s soon going to be my favorite season- fall. I personally love the cooler fall weather for picnics and outside dining; both for fashion reasons and because I don’t worry so much about the food getting too warm or spoiling. Before the summer ended, though, I did have the opportunity to build a charcuterie board for an outdoor concert and picnic.
The event was held in a little midwestern lake town and featured an incredibly fun cover band and a competition for the best picnic setup. I was put in charge of the food, which of course meant charcuterie!
The table was set by my mom, who chose a tablecloth from France and built on that theme with the rest of the decor.
Building the picnic charcuterie board
I started with somewhat typical charcuterie board ingredients: cheese, crackers, fruit and meat. Because some of the people I was going to be serving were picky and/or kids, I decided to build a simple charcuterie board for one of the options. I go into more detail in our blog How to Build a Simple 5 Ingredient Charcuterie Board – check it out to see how I built a beautiful board made from easy to find ingredients. This also made the most sense for this event since I wasn’t near any grocers that carry specialty cheeses – we’re talking basic, baby! I ended up with two cheeses: gouda and gruyere, two meats: salami deli slices and cured white wine salami, and 1 fruit: red grapes.
I piled the goodies up on the wood and epoxy charcuterie board I made in a workshop document here.
Another simple dish for the picnic
I had grabbed a tub of hummus at the store, and in an effort to keep things relatively simple, opened the lid and placed it in its original packaging in the center of a tray. I then arranged two varieties of crackers around the hummus. To add a bit of color to the sea of beige, I placed a few cherry tomatoes and fresh basil leaves on the hummus for an edible, colorful pop.
Caprese Skewers
One of my son's favorite snacks are caprese skewers. I knew he'd be thrilled to see this addition to the table! These are so simple to make, healthy, easy to eat and super delicious, so they're a great addition to any party spread. I added fresh mozzarella balls, basil leaves and cherry tomatoes to skewers and piled them on the dish. I then drizzled a bit of extra virgin olive oil, sea salt and balsamic vinegar over the bunch. So quick, easy and gorgeous!
Finishing the picnic spread
I added some spinach dip to a small bowl and ripped up fresh sourdough bread, which I simply piled up around the bowl on top of a round lazy susan-style charcuterie board. We had small ramekins that we used for individual kalamata olive serving bowls to round off the food selection.
The food was great and we got a bunch of compliments on our beautiful table- it looked much more gourmet than it actually was! One thing I didn't capture was one of the most important elements: food nets. With a park full of food and drinks, there are always bugs. I brought these collapsible, inexpensive food cover nets that we threw over the dishes any time we weren't eating. Highly recommend!
