A Petite Charcuterie Board

So many times, in fact, nearly all the time when I see pictures of charcuterie boards, I am overwhelmed with the size.  If you didn't know better, you would think that charcuterie boards were only available in sizes to feed an army.  Well, that is simply not true.  You can put together a wonderful little board for yourself, or for you and "a" friend.  I'll show you how. 

All you need is a small square, round or rectangular board, preferably with a handle (but that is not a necessity) and a few items from the produce and deli departments in your local market.

Here are a few things that I picked up from my local Publix grocery store.  I have found that their in-house brands on many items are just as good, if not better than brand name products.  You might find the same in your local grocery store.  So, three sliced cheeses, a block of sharp cheddar, a small beef summer sausage (which was the best I've ever had) and a package of sandwich pepperoni.  I could only find the large pepperoni slices from Boar's Head, which was kind of expensive, but the added expense was worth it.  I bought a small container of mixed fruit which was sliced at the store.  Again, a little more expensive to buy it this way, but it saved me an enormous amount of time in the kitchen.  And finally, a container of very nice extra-long toothpicks for serving.  I liked these plain toothpicks much more than the shorter ones with the plastic frills on the end.  Much more elegant.

For my petite charcuterie board, I used this small 14" x 4-1/2" wooden board.  This was the perfect size for me and a friend.  A little stain on the board from previous use (I believe this is a strawberry stain), but not a problem.  It just gives the board some character.

As I mentioned earlier, this summer sausage was wonderful.  I do not like most of them, but I was willing to give this Old Wisconsin a try.  It was the right choice.  I find most of these either tasteless or having an odd taste or texture.  Not this time.

I sliced the sausage into thin slices.  Not paper thin.  Probably around 1/8" slices.  That worked perfectly for my board.

And I'm sure I don't have to tell you to remove the casing from each slice before preparing the board.

For the little cheese rounds, I used my set of round cutters.  This is an inexpensive set of cutters that I picked up somewhere along the way.  I've had them for years and I use them often.  They were perfect for this little project.

I wanted you to see that they are clean-cut on one side and scalloped cut on the opposite side.  I did a combination of both.

I used one of the smaller sizes for this board since the theme is making a small charcuterie board.  I used all of the cheeses and did a combination of scalloped and straight round cuts.  Very cute.

I simply cubed the cheddar cheese and then set about putting the board together.

When all was said and done, I ended up with a very nice little board.  The long toothpicks had a cube of cheese, strawberry, folded sandwich pepperoni, kiwi and a blueberry.  I placed the cheese rounds and summer sausage around the board along with some of the leftover blueberries.  To finish things off, a few sprigs of curly leaf parsley for presentation and it was time to pour a couple glasses of wine and enjoy the evening.

A few notes.  I like this served at room temperature.  All the flavors or more pronounced and vibrant at room temperature.  I made this just before we were to sit down, so that worked.  Unfortunately, what is not consumed during your evening does not hold up well in the refrigerator overnight.  Even if you bring it back to room temperature the next day.  That's another reason I like doing smaller boards.  Two people could easily make their way through this board in an evening, so there is little to no waste.

I hope you will give this a try for an intimate evening.  If you find yourself with four guests, you could easily do two small boards and put one board on each end of a coffee table or center kitchen island if that is where you end up gathering.