Charcuterie, cheese boards perfect for last-minute holiday gatherings

Charcuterie boards were one of the hottest food trends over the past year, so why not embrace the trend for last-minute Christmas appetizers or a New Year’s party?

And to make it even easier, places such as Portugalia Marketplace in Fall River, and Sid Wainer and Sons in New Bedford have done all the work procuring smoked meats and sausages from around the world to pair up with cheeses, fruits, olives and other goodies.

“It’s really all about assembly,” said Rose Carvalho, store manager at Portugalia Marketplace. Many of the sausages at Portugalia’s charcuterie counter are already cooked, making it easy work to assemble and serve.

Every week, 2,000 pounds of charcuterie meats are delivered to the store to sell locally and to be shipped “all over” to customers. “It’s always been big with us, but it’s even bigger now because we carry so many varieties,” she said.

The selection at Portugalia is primarily focused on charcuterie (charcutaria in Portuguese) from Portugal and neighboring Spain including salpicao, a smoked sausage that’s eaten sliced thick or thin; Alheira, a Portuguese meat and bread sausage that’s traditionally grilled or roasted; hot or mild chourico; chorizo; farinheira, a tangy sausage cured in oak firewood; and morcela da casa, a black pudding with an intense flavor and aroma.

For holiday gatherings, Carvalho suggests pairing charcuterie with cheeses: a hard cheese, a semi-soft cheese and a fresh cheese. From among the array of cheeses adjacent to the store’s Charcutaria, she suggests Omorro, a soft ripened cheese from the Azores; sharp aged Sao Jorge; and Dona Ermelina, a fresh goat cheese. For both the Omorro and the Dona Ermelinda, she said to cut the top off and let them sit out at room temperature for a couple hours in advance of serving to let the creaminess and flavors develop. And for the meats and sausage to pair up with that selection of cheeses, try the salpicao; slices of chorizo, a cooked sausage sliced similar to pepperoni; and jamom Serrano, a Spanish proscuitto.

Add-ons to the charcuterie and cheese plates include fresh Azorean pineapples, fresh figs (try the black or the powdered ones sold in bins at Portugalia); Calamata olives and nuts — almonds or walnuts.

“A good thing to do is take dried figs and wrap them in proscuitto — it’s fast to make, and it’s delicious,” said Carvalho.

Another suggestion is to place cubes of the 7-month aged Sao Jorge in peppadew (tiny red peppers). “The peppers are sweet and the cheese is sharp — people love them,” she added.

At Sid Wainer and Son, the charcuterie selection includes sausages, salami varieties, proscuitto, pate, and ‘nduja, a spicy cured spreadable salami. In an interview earlier this year, Allie Wainer, executive vice president at the four-generation family food business, said cooking shows and travel have fueled the resurgence in charcuterie’s popularity. Ironically, the Millennial generation’s grazing dining style fits right in with the Old World custom, which started before refrigeration as a way to preserve meats.

In addition to fruits, nuts and cheese (and there’s practically a world of cheese at Sid Wainer’s retail store) for charcuterie pairings, she said they suggest pickled vegetables and a variety of mustards.

“For charcuterie and cheese, I like to mix it up,” said Joe Simone, owner of Simone’s in Warren, R.I. “Some excellent quality sliced prosciutto and a salami/sopressata is nice.”

And for the accompanying cheese, Simone uses at least three: a cow milk, a goat milk and one “other.” Additionally he likes to mix up the textures/tastes in other ways such as one soft-ripened cheese (think St. Andre, or Explorateur, or brie), one blue cheese such as Roquefort, (which happens to be made of sheep’s milk) and one firmer cheese such as cheddar, gouda, or asiago.

“To garnish, I like to serve nuts; maybe almonds quickly fried in olive oil and then tossed with coarse sea salt (we have that on our dinner menu), or pistachios or walnuts, “ said Simone. “I also love quince paste, called dulce de membrillo in Spain, (there’s a Portuguese equivalent) cut into thin slivers and arranged — it goes great with cheese.”

For crackers, Simone said to stick to milder flavors such as Carrs or Bremner wafers. He also includes a gluten-free cracker because so many people are trying to avoid gluten.

After working at restaurants in England and France, James Weare is no stranger to charcuterie. And now, as the head chef at The Aviary Restaurant, Weare serves a charcuterie board with Procuitto di Parma, a dry-cured ham from Parma, Italy that that’s aged for 9 months to 2 years, and sopressata, a dry salami native to Tuscany and Liguria, Italy.

“It’s got a really good flavor and you can get it spicy, and not-so-spicy,” said Weare.

Weare, who will be serving the restaurant’s charcuterie board as part of a special New Year’s Eve menu, also follows the three-cheese guideline with a soft cheese such as brie or St. Andre, a blue cheese and a hard cheese such as Spanish Manchego. “Also important is that it all needs to be at room temperature.”

Try Weare’s recipe for candied walnuts from The Aviary Restaurant to accompany your cheese and charcuterie board at home.

Candied Walnuts

2 cups walnut halves

1½ cups sugar

1 cup water

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

In a sauce pan, combine the nuts with the sugar, water, cayenne and half the salt. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and steep for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 300ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Strain the nuts, discard the syrup and transfer to a bowl. Add the butter and the remaining salt, toss well. Spread the nuts out on the baking sheet. Roast for 10 to 15 minutes until a deep golden brown.

Recipe from James Weare, head chef of The Aviary Restaurant.