the “fruicuterie” board

Vintage tray from Pottery Barn, New York

To me there is no fresh produce more satisfying to work with than fruit .I have always found slicing cubing, balling and segmenting fruit a total joy. It is not only the prep work that is so therapeutic, it is the pleasure of appreciating the whole gamut of colour that makes the final platter, dish or bowl complete. It can be something quite beautiful and nowadays instagram worthy. 
Make no mistake, me I love some good prosciutto, salami and other salumi. But not everyone is like me, so  it’s good to be  mindful that not everyone is a diehard carnivore. And besides, melon and prosciutto is so thrillingly yesteryear that we all still love it and continue pull it out of the bag on 
many an occasion. So much so that it might as well be coming back into fashion again.
That’s when my “fruicuterie” board idea came about: a carefully curated fruit charcuterie board, piled high and structured with cheese and fresh fruit instead of meat. Feel free to use any combination, but my selections below optimise the best soft and stoned seasonal fruits on the market stalls right now. Let your imagination run riot with whatever your favourite fruit and cheeses might be. It could be breakfast, it could be lunch or brunch, or a light summer supper. Inspired by the casa rosada breakfast plate I set out to compose a fruicuterie board as a particularly epic appetiser or sharing plate. I haven't stipulated quantities because this can depend on anything from two sharing to twelve hungry mouths that need to be fed. Get you ploughman's lunch. Swap watermelon or introduce apples for texture, tangerine segments for sweetness. Mix and match your favourite cheeses, soft or hard, Brie or Camembert, Manchego or Pecorino Robbiola, or Reblochon, basically follow your palate and what you have to hand. The worlds your wheel.

1. Cured goats cheese

2. Cashel blue

3. Cured cows cheese with Manjericao e tomato (sweet basil and tomato)

4. Cured cows cheese with Pimentao Doce ( sweet chilli pepper)

5. Mango, peeled and diced 

6. Red grapes

7. Apricots, stoned and halved

8. Red peaches, thickly sliced 

9. White peaches, paraguyos, thickly sliced 

10. Figs, halved or whole

11. Blackberries 

12 Raspberries

13. Galia melon, cubed

14. Cantaloupe/charentais melon, cubed

15. Plums, stoned and halved

16. Strawberries, halved