Wondering what to do with ALL the beautiful, fresh produce of summer?

Wonder no more – I’ll show you different ways to treat different veggies that will hopefully spark some inspiration for your own – Crudité Platters.

The word Crudité could make someone stop in their tracks when you’re talking…at least, it stopped E and he smiled and said, ‘that’s a $50 word,’ or my book club said when they saw the veggie platter last summer. A Crudité platter is a fancy way of saying, ‘I’m serving a variety of vegetables for you today.’

Similar to a charcuterie board, the crudité platter has limitless options for what can be put out for consumption. Between the variety of veggies to how you prepare them to what type of dips to serve them with. So, it’s time to get creative and throw together a platter of your own.

I’ll walk thru preparation on some of the items that I have served, but the preparations can transfer to most comparable veggies and you’ll be good. When roasting, get creative with your seasonings for different flavor profiles, give yourself a combo of fresh veggies and cooked or pickled, and dips can range from thick to creamy to oil based. Start with flavor profiles you enjoy and branch out from there.

One of my bookclubs summer get together was a potluck at my house. I was blessed with an abundance of veggies from the CSA and offered to do what I called ‘Veggie Platters’ in the text message chain. I partially offered because of the boatload of veggies, but also because it had been a long while since I had made bagna cauda, and I was craving a reason to make that special dipping sauce.

When friends arrived, the Platters were devoured in good fashion as a starter to the meal (you know – before swimming and/or talking about the book). The comments I encountered were…

‘I thought you said a veggie platter?’ Or ‘this isn’t like any veggie tray I’ve seen.’ Or ‘Of course, that is what YOU meant by veggie platter.’

All comments were said in a fun and positive way because my longtime, wonderful group of strong female friends know and understand my love of cooking and entertaining.

And they weren’t wrong – I had moved the veggie tray up to a crudité platter. There was roasted zucchini spears, bacon wrapped cabbage and green beans roasted, kohlrabi, radishes, carrots and cukes.

This isn’t the only adventure in crudité that summer. We enjoyed an almost meatless meal of crudité platter and light salad of white peaches, bacon, feta with a rosemary vinaigrette. The crudité platter had fresh tomato slices, cucumber and kohlrabi, along side roasted radishes, and both beet and kale chips – all served with a creamy rosemary and feta dipping sauce consisting of a combo of crème fresh and sour cream. This was a ‘can’t get enough crowd pleaser’ at the table.

You almost cannot go wrong with this platter and that is the fun of it. I didn’t know how the beet chips were going to turn out and they ended up being amazing (we are making again tonight with burgers), roasted radishes with a sprinkle of salt – to die for, and the kale chips so light they disappeared quickly in your mouth with a similar burst that the outside of a charred marshmallow. Not to mention the fresh vegetables that tastes so wonderful and right this time of year. Here are some ideas for you to build your own crudité platter…

Dip Options:

• Your favorite salad dressing (ranch is a favorite for many)
• Turn Ranch into a spicy avocado ranch by mixing together a mashed up an avocado, adding 2-4 tsp of sriracha and 1 cup ranch.
• Black olive and anchovy aioli, basic aioli or any flavor aioli you desire.
• Make your own Green Goddess Dressing
• Creamy Feta & Rosemary Dip (see below)
• Bagna Cauda Dipping Sauce (see below)
• Hummus

Vegetable Options:

• Sampling of fresh vegetables – like tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, radish, cauliflower, broccoli, green onions…this could go on a while.
• Roasted vegetables – like beets, broccoli, broccolinni, radishes, carrot sticks, zucchini, bacon wrapped toasted anything.
• Pickled vegetables or solid fruits – green beans, zucchini sticks, radishes, turnips, kohlrabi, apple slices, carrots…once again, this could go on a while.

Preparation & Plating:

Pull out everything you want to serve to review the size of the platter that you need. If you are blessed to have so many options, you can decide if you want to replenish one platter or have multiple platters to serve all at once.

Center the dip if there is only one and arrange all crudité around it. If there are two dips, you have the option to either have two separate platters each with it’s own platter and the same vegetables on it ~or~ one large platter with dips separated and veggies all around them. It is fun to either alternate colors around the platter or spread them in a rainbow spread.

Some of the Recipes Used:

Bagna Cauda:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon anchovy paste or 3 anchovy fillets
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Melt butter in olive oil over medium heat in small sauce pan. Add garlic and stir for about 2 minutes. Add anchovies or anchovy paste and stir to incorporate. Heat another 2 minutes. Lastly, add lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Stir to combine and let warm for around 5 to 10 minutes.

Serve warm with a variety of fresh or roasted vegetables. Enjoy!

Feta & Rosemary Dip

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup creme fresh
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 3 tsp chopped fresh herbs – combination of chives, thyme, and rosemary
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• Salt, to taste

Preparation:

Combine all ingredients, except salt, in and bowl and stir to combine. Let sit in fridge for 30 minutes before serving. Taste and add salt, if needed. *You may not need salt since feta has a salty bite on its own.

Roasted Veggie Chips (used for beets, radishes, & kale)

Roasted Radish Ingredients:

• 10-12 Radishes halved
• Olive Oil
• Sea Salt
• Lemon Juice

Radishes Preparation:  Preheat oven to 450°. Toss halved radishes with olive oil and sea salt to coat. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and roast flat side down for 10-15 minutes. The longer you roast, the softer they get. Remove from oven, top with lemon juice, and sprinkle with salt.

Kale Chip Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of kale, leaves removed from stems & ripped into chip size pieces
• 2 Tble Olive Oil or Avocado Oil
• Finishing Salt, to taste

Kale Chips Preparation: Preheat oven to 325°. Generously rub oil into the kale pieces until covered. Place them in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle salt and bake for 10-12 minutes, turning them over half way through.

Beet Chips Ingredients:

• 6 medium beets, sliced to 1/16″ thickness
• 1 Tbls Olive Oil
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp fresh cracked black pepper, or more to taste

Beet Chips Preparation: Preheat oven to 300°. Toss sliced beets with salt in a large bowl and let them sweat for 30 minutes. Drain liquid. Add olive oil to beets and toss to coat. Sprinkle garlic power and black pepper over beets. Place beets on two parchment lined baking sheets in a single layer. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until crispy. Sprinkle with additional salt.

Happy Vegetables!!!

*Recipes from Donatella Arpria (Bagna Cauda), Feel Good Foodie (Kale Chips), Love & Lemons (Roasted Radishes), AllRecipes (Beet Chips). Other recipes Experimental Spoon original.