Your Holiday Crudité Platter
If you are hosting your holiday dinner this year, you are in luck, because I am about to encourage you to create something healthy, easy, and beautiful. A crudité platter! For those of you who have never heard the term, a crudité plate is simply a pretty way of saying a vegetable platter. However, it just sounds so much more schnazzy saying “crudités”.
What is a crudité, you may be asking? Wikipedia defines Crudités as traditional French appetizers consisting of sliced or whole raw vegetables which are sometimes dipped in a vinaigrette or other dipping sauces. Crudités often include celery sticks, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, bell pepper strips, broccoli, cauliflower, fennel, and asparagus spears; sometimes olives, depending on local custom.
With crudités, its all about the “look”, which makes them a popular draw to the buffet table. But for me, serving raw and cooked vegetables creates a “healthy zone” at my buffet spread, and healthy, is always good at a party!
As you can imagine, few rules apply to vegetable platters, but here are some that you may find useful.
1. Don’t get caught up in the complexity of the arrangement, sometimes simple is better. All of my crudités platter below are super simple, but still look beautiful.
Color goes a long way. But did you know that you can create beautiful monochromatic vegetable platters? Here are two examples of easy vegetable platters where we went with a white look. It is beautiful and unexpected! Vegetables like cauliflower, endives, white squash, asparagus, cucumbers and even peeled radishes, can easily be incorporated into a white crudités platter. Don’t worry, the vegetables do not have to be stark white… but even a hint of white adds impact.
Don’t be afraid to go with a theme, especially during the holidays. Why not make your vegetable platter look like a Christmas tree or a wreath. If there is anything that brings a smile to your guests’ faces, it will be your fun element you bring to your veggie plate.
Think outside the box when it comes to presentation. Many of us think of veggie platters and crudités as the round plastic trays filled with celery and carrots at the grocery stores. But don’t be afraid to be daring and out of the box. The more creative you get, the more you’ll love putting the platters together.
Last but not least, don’t feel like the round plate is your only option to display your vegetables. There are lots of different serving pieces you can use. Various sized glasses, baskets, Chinese food “to go” boxes, and many more.
Last but not least, enjoy the process of putting a credités platter together. There is NO WRONG way to do it… except not to do it at all!
