Charm your guests with special summer cheese plates.

This individually-plated cheese course is made by slicing four-inch rounds of cheese into eight wedges, and adding a visual counterpoint of a square-cut cheese and a sautéed mushroom stuffed with herbed goat cheese.

While a simple garnish would be fine—a sprinkling of nuts and fruits—the delight here is in the decoration. Work with an assortment of:

• Apple slices (a crinkle cutter makes the pale slices stand out)
• Blueberries
• Champagne grapes
• Citrus peel
• Currants
• Diced canteloupe and/or honeydew
• Dried currants and berries
• Edible flowers
• Green or red grape halves
• Nut halves
• Raisins and sultanas

Create charming cheese plates for special
dinners. Photo courtesy Wisconsin Milk
Marketing Board.

The fruit-and-nut decoration turns the cheese plate into a festive dessert. Choose three or four different rounds—for example, Camembert or a baby Brie; a goat cheese like Selles-sur-Cher; a triple-crème like Brillat Savarin; pecorino tartufo, a sheep’s milk cheese filled with black truffle pieces; and a pungent washed-rind cheese like Crave Brothers Petit Frère or Cowgirl Creamery’s Red Hawk. The square piece can be a firm cheese (Cheddar or pepper jack), a blue cheese or anything that appeals to you.

Find cheese recipes, our favorite cheeses and our Cheese Glossary in THE NIBBLE’s Gourmet Cheese Section.