Similar to an Italian antipasto, our cutting board meals always involve a couple varieties of cheese, usually one or two types of cured meat, some bread, and a few types of veggies, occasionally with a dip or spread depending on what components we’ve chosen. These meals are fantastic because they’re lightening fast to make (usually involving no more work than some slicing and possible blanching of veggies) and can be adapted to any culinary ethnicity you like (Asian, Italian, Indian, Mexican, and Spanish cuisines work especially well here). Plus, they’re fun to eat. We’ll sit for maybe an hour or so, leisurely picking a bite at a time, playing with combinations of ingredients, trying to find the best all around bite out of what we’ve assembled. It’s interactive and relaxing, and a nice change from our usual modus operandi of spending over an hour in the kitchen for a meal that only takes 15 minutes to eat.

This meal was sort of an antipasto with an identity crisis, comprised of two cheeses (Jarlsburg swiss and Prima Donna), two sausages (sweet soppresetta and a really fantastic spicy salami with fennel), roasted red peppers, quickly blanched sugar snap peas, roasted garlic ciabatta, and for a fun twist, some baked brie in puff pastry with pecans and raspberry-champagne preserves. It was delicious.

How would you make a cutting board meal? Give it a try!