"Cheesemas Tree" Cheese Board with Quick Pickles

“Cheesemas Tree” Cheese Board with Quick Pickles

Serves	12+
Prep time	30 minutes
Dietary	Gluten Free, Vegetarian
Meal type	Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack, Starter
Misc	Gourmet, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
Occasion	Birthday Party, Casual Party, Christmas, Formal Party, Thanksgiving
Region	British
By author	Karen Burns-Booth

Dispense with those little cheese and pineapple on sticks and get creative this Christmas and New Year with this fabulous and fun “Cheesemas Tree” Cheese Board and quick pickled veggies.

Ingredients

Sarson's Pickle in 15 Mediterranean vinegar blend
1/4 small red cabbage (trimmed of core, and finely diced)
Garlic salt
2 large carrots (peeled and very finely diced)
Fresh basil leaves (cut or torn into small pieces + some left whole for garnish)
2 large potatoes (peeled, boiled and cut into small dice)
4 large spring onions (diced)
black pepper
200g vintage white Cheddar cheese (cut into small cubes)
200g Red Leicester cheese (cut into small cubes)
150g Stilton cheese, cut into small cubes (cut into small cubes)
3 to 4 pickled red chillies
Green olives
Gherkins
Sprigs of fresh Thyme leaves

Note

Dispense with those little cheese and pineapple on sticks and get creative this Christmas and New Year with this fabulous and fun “Cheesemas Tree” Cheese Board and quick pickled veggies.

Directions

Step 1	Make the quick pickles first: take 3 bowls and add the individually prepared vegetables in each bowl, red cabbage in one, carrots in another one and the potatoes in the last bowl.
Step 2	Add the garlic salt (to taste) to the red cabbage, the chopped basil leaves to the carrots and the diced spring onions and black pepper to the cooked potatoes. Pour the Sarson's Mediterranean Pickle in 15 seasoned vinegar blend over all three vegetables, to just cover them, and set aside for 15 minutes. Just before serving, drain the pickled veggies.
Step 3	Assemble the "cheesemas tree": Put a spring of basil leaves at the top of a large rectangular board and then arrange the cheese cubes in the shape of a tree, interspersing them with the drained pickled red cabbage, carrots and potatoes - see the photo - ending with a row of olives at the bottom and the red chillies on the last layer of cheese and potatoes.
Step 4	Arrange the sprigs of fresh basil and thyme in and around the cheese cubes and pickled veggies and then make the “trunk” of the tree with the gherkins.
Step 5	Serve with crackers and/or crusty bread. Can be made ahead of time and covered loosely with tinfoil and stored in a cool place until you need to serve it.