Putting a cheeseboard together may seem intimidating at first but we have a step-by-step guide to take you in the right direction. We’ve got the perfect guide to a charcuterie board everyone will drool over! 

Always keep in mind…  

• Price range. Set a budget and stick to it. 
• Quality trumps quantity. Buy fewer products of higher quality. 
• Balance of flavours. Pick at least one cheese from each category to create variety in flavour and colour. 
• Add extras. Jams, preserves, nuts and fruits served in little bowls will help create breaks in your cheeseboard. 

Choice of cheese  

Look at buying 3-5 cheeses spread across these categories:  

• Firm: Manchego, Edam, Gouda 
• Soft: Brie, Camembert, goat’s cheese 
• Aged: mature Cheddar or Parmesan 
• Blue cheese: Stilton or Gorgonzola 

If your budget doesn’t allow for five, opt for only three cheeses: one soft, one hard and one aged or blue. This way you accommodate all palates and preferences.  

Also read: How to level up your toasted-cheese game 

Additional elements 

Buy an assortment of produce for flavour and pops of flavour, for example:  

• Cold meats: Prosciutto, salami, ham 
• Vegetables: olives, celery, peppers, raw or marinated vegetables, pickles 
• Crunch and carbs: nuts, crackers, chips , breadsticks, pita 
• Sweet: dried fruits, chocolate squares 
• Fruits: grapes, cherries, apples, strawberries, figs 
• Condiments: mustards, chutneys, honey, jams and preserves 
• Garnishes: herbs, edible flowers 

How to assemble  

1. Find a wooden, marble or ceramic board that all your elements can easily fit and stay on. 
2. Cheeses go first: space them evenly around the board. 
3. Go ahead with the salty elements, like cold meats, nuts and olives. 
4. Next add fruits, followed by the crackers and bread bits. 
5. Place condiments into small serving bowls and add these to your board. 
6. Add extra sweet nibbles like grapes, figs or chocolate as fillers to close gaps on your board. 
7. Finish off with pretty garnishes like herbs and edible flowers or serving utensils like cheese knives, spoons or salt and pepper shakers.

Also read: Top tips to plan a menu for your next dinner party

Words: Sjaan van der Ploeg

Photography: Fresh Living Magazine

The post How to make the perfect charcuterie board appeared first on MyKitchen.

Make this delicious sundried tomato, basil pesto and gooey cheese wreath!  

Serves 6

Total time 1 hr and 35 min

Ingredients

Cake flour 2 1⁄2 cups

Yeast 1 sachet

Salt 1 tsp

Sugar 1 tbsp

Lukewarm water 1 1⁄2 cups

Olive oil 2 tbsp

Basil pesto 1⁄2 cup

Sundried tomatoes, chopped 1⁄2 cup

Salt and coarsely ground black pepper

For serving

Brie or Camembert 1 wheel

Fresh basil leaves or micro herbs

Honey for drizzling

Method

1. Combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a large bowl.
2. Add 2/3 of the water and olive oil and combine using a wooden spoon to form a dough. Add more water if needed. The dough should be soft, but not wet and sticky.
3. Knead dough for about 8-10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
4. Place into an oiled bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise for 45 minutes to an hour or until doubled in size.
5. Preheat the oven to 170°C.
6. Knock down the dough before rolling it out onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a large rectangle, about 5mm thick.
7. Generously coat the dough with basil pesto and evenly scatter with sundried tomatoes. Season well.
8. Gently roll into a log shape along the length of the dough.
9. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough in half along the middle to get two long strips.
10. Take the ends of each strip and braid them together.
11. Shape the plait into a circle and twist the ends together to secure.
12. Place the wreath onto a greased and lined baking tray and bake for about 30-35 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Set aside to cool.
13. Place the Brie or Camembert wheel onto a baking tray and bake for about 5-8 minutes or until soft (the centre should be slightly gooey).
14. Place the bread wreath onto a serving platter and nestle the cheese wheel in the centre. Garnish with fresh herbs and drizzle with honey if you like. Serve immediately.

Top tip

Short on time? Store-bought dough works just as well and shaves an hour off the prep time (don’t worry, our lips are sealed).

Make it yourself

Basil pesto

Simply blitz together a handful of your favourite herbs (basil, parsley and coriander work well) and add freshly crushed garlic, lemon juice, Parmesan, nuts (pine nuts, almonds and walnuts are great) and a generous helping of olive oil. Season to taste.

The post Recipe: Sundried tomato, basil pesto and gooey cheese wreath appeared first on MyKitchen.

Put on your apron and roll up your sleeves – class is in session! These are our top need-to-know kitchen tricks for the month. 

1. How to make ghee

Ghee is made by removing the milk solids from butter that catch and burn during cooking, giving it the delicious flavour of butter with the high heating point of oil. Ghee is often made by gently melting butter and skimming the milk solids off the surface using a spoon. This method can be tedious and often results in a fair amount of waste, so we thought we’d share our favourite way to clarify butter.  

1. Place a block of butter into a large pan or pot over medium-low heat.  
2.  Gently melt the butter and continue to cook, swirling occasionally. Do not let the butter boil or sputter furiously as this will mix all the milk solids into the butter, making it trickier to clarify. The butter will go through a few stages: You’ll see white foam start to rise to the surface, which will then break apart, bubble and eventually sink to the bottom.  
3.  When you see brown specks forming at the bottom of your pot (these are the milk solids toasting), remove the butter from the heat. Carefully pour the butter through a sieve lined with a few pieces of paper towel. Discard the toasted milk solids, or add them to brownie batter, pasta sauce or salad dressing, or toss through a batch of popcorn.  
4.  Allow the ghee to cool. Store in labelled glass jars in the fridge.  

2. How to wash your cast-iron pan properly   

WASH: Unless you’re giving your newly bought or thrifted skillet a clean, never use soap when washing your skillet. Wash your pan right away with warm water, and use a scrubbing brush to remove any stubborn bits.   

DRY: Use a paper towel or a kitchen cloth to thoroughly dry your pan. Don’t store it with any residual moisture on it as this can encourage rust to form.  

SEASON: Cast iron ‘seasoning’ is a process that occurs when layers of oil build up in a cast-iron pan, giving it non-stick and rust-resistant properties. Every time you wash your skillet, rub a light layer of oil all over the cooking surface – about 1 tsp should be enough for most pans. This is why pans shouldn’t be washed with soap, as this will strip off the protective layers of seasoning that you worked hard to create. 

3. 3-2-1 Butter cookies

Next time you’re craving some cookies, you can whip up a batch without a recipe simply by remembering 3-2-1. Basic butter cookie dough can be made using just three ingredients with a ratio of 3 parts flour to 2 parts butter (or margarine) and 1 part sugar by weight – 300 g flour, 200 g butter and 100 g sugar, for example.  

SUGAR: Different sugars will give your cookies a slightly different texture. Granulated sugar, for example, will create a crispier cookie, while icing sugar will create a shortbread.  

ADDITIONS: 3-2-1 cookie dough is a fantastic base for all sorts of flavours and add-ins. Mix in vanilla essence, ground cinnamon, finely grated orange zest, chopped nuts or chocolate chips. You can even replace 2 tbsp of the flour with cocoa powder for chocolate cookies.   

BAKING: Roll out the cookie dough on a lightly floured work surface. Cut out your cookies and chill in the fridge until firm to prevent spreading. Bake the cookies at 180°C for 8–10 minutes or until the edges start going golden. Once cooled, the cookies can be iced or dipped in chocolate.  

4. The stages of whipped cream  

When whipping cream, recipes sometimes say to `whip to soft-peak stage’ or `beat until stiff peaks form’ … what does this mean?  

SOFT: As you are whipping the cream, you will start to see trails in the cream from the beater that don’t immediately fall away. When the whisk is lifted out of the bowl, the cream will form peaks that fold over and eventually sink away, and the cream will fall off the whisk after a few seconds with a soft plop. Soft peak stage is great for making chocolate mousse or cream-based desserts, such as Peppermint Crisp puddings, because it allows for room to mix your pudding without overworking the cream.  

STIFF: You’ll notice defined trails forming that hold their shape and, when the whisk is lifted out of the bowl, the cream stands upright in stiff, straight peaks. If the cream is whipped for any longer, it will start to split. Stiff peaks are a perfect stage for serving cream alongside your favourite puddings.   

OVERWHIPPED: If the cream becomes grainy but is only slightly overwhipped, fold through a few tablespoons of cold non-whipped cream with a spatula to bring it back. If the cream is too far gone, then you may as well carry on whipping and make some homemade butter.  

TOP TIP: To get the most volume in your cream, make sure that your bowl, whisk and cream are chilled.  

5. How to get perfectly round cookies

Have you ever baked a batch of cookies with copious amounts of love and care, only to find they come out of the oven all wonky? We have a trick up our sleeve that will make sure you get perfectly round cookies every time – and all you’ll need is a round cutter larger than your cookies. As soon as your cookies come out of the oven, place the cutter around one of the cookies and swiftly (but gently) swirl it in a circle a few times. Repeat with all your cookies. You’re not using the cookie cutter to cut off any of the edges, but rather to mould the cookies while they’re still warm and flexible.  

Words by Kirsty Buchanan

Photography: Alamy, Gallo/Getty Images, Pexels, Unsplash

The post Top tips and tricks to master your kitchen game appeared first on MyKitchen.

If you feel like cooking isn’t for you, or you just get super flustered in the kitchen, these 5 simple hacks will help you be a better cook!

1. STAY SHARP
Sharper knives are actually safer, since you can be more accurate.

2. FEEL THE HEAT
Add ingredients to hot oil for best results. And always preheat your oven.

3. COME UNSTUCK
Stop food burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan with a splash of water (or wine or stock).

4. CHECK THE SEASONING
Don’t leave salt and pepper until last. Adding them during cooking will build flavour.

5. TRUST YOUR TASTE BUDS
Adjust ingredients and quantities to your preferences – you’re the one eating it at the end of the day!

Words: Staff Writer
Photography: Unsplash

If you dread going grocery shopping this article- How to make the most of your grocery shopping trip, is exactly what you need!

The post 5 Simple Hacks To Make You A Better Cook Today appeared first on MyKitchen.

When it comes to cooking, sometimes we love spending hours in the kitchen, and at others, we just want to get something cooked and on the table as quickly as possible. And it’s in these instances that a humble tin of baking spray can go a long way. While most of us are used to using non-stick sprays to grease baking tins, B-well’s Baking Spray is full of unlocked potential.

1. MAKE GRATING CHEESE A BREEZE

Grating a huge block of cheese for a heart-warming pasta dish or the ultimate toasted sandwich can sometimes be a challenge. Prevent clumping and snagging by spritzing some baking spray on the inside and outside of your grater before you start. This trick also means the cheese leaves very little residue, making clean-up a dream.

2. HEALTHY MEALS FOR THE KIDS

Crumbed chicken strips and fish fingers are a staple on many children’s plates. Spray home-made crumbed chicken breasts or fish fillets with a thin layer of baking spray before popping them into the oven to get that crispy crust and lovely golden colour the whole family adores. We love this trick because the spray evenly coats all the crumbs without leaving that oily taste you get from deep-fried snacks.

3. MESS-FREE MEASURING

Batch baking and cooking can often lead to large, unwanted piles of dirty measuring cups, spoons and other utensils all over the kitchen. Spraying the inside of cups of jugs with baking spray before measuring out sticky ingredients like peanut butter, syrup or honey can be a life-saver. The baking spray will make it easy for the sticky ingredients to slide right out and you won’t be left with a big mess afterwards.

4. MAKE THE PERFECT POPCORN 

Popcorn is the ideal snack, especially since winter is the perfect time of year to snuggle up and binge-watch series all weekend long! Instead of reaching for the butter or oil, spritz your popcorn kernels with some baking spray before you turn up the heat. The spray will coat each kernel perfectly and evenly, and this works amazingly in the microwave or on the stove.

5. CLEAN CHOPPING

Cutting sticky baked goods like toffee, fudge or Rice Krispie treats, or even boiled eggs can be a hassle. Even everyday ingredients like onions, garlic and ginger can stick to your knife while you’re busy. Spraying a light layer of baking spray on each side of your blade will allow your knife to glide through with ease, with nothing clinging to it unnecessarily.

6. PERFECT PASTA

Impress your guests with perfect pasta by spraying a little bit of baking spray into your cooking water. This will not only prevent the pasta from sticking together, but will also stop them from sticking to the bottom and sides of the pot, all while adding a subtle buttery flavour.

Words: Kate Turner
Photography: Unsplash

The post 6 unexpected ways B-well baking spray can make everyday cooking a breeze appeared first on MyKitchen.

Think twice before throwing your kitchen scraps in the bin. Waste not with this spicy herb bone broth using leftover chicken bones. It’s not only perfect for winter soups and stews but also contains immune-boosting properties.

MAKES 2 jars // COOKING TIME 3–4 hours

INGREDIENTS
Bones from 1 chicken
2 onions, quartered
4 carrots, halved
2 celery stalks, halved
1½ tsp red chilli flakes
1 bunch parsley
1 bay leaf
2 tsp peppercorns

METHOD
1. Add the chicken bones, onions, carrots and celery to a large pot. Fill the pot with water until it covers the chicken bones by 3 cm.
2. Bring to the boil and, using a ladle, skim off any bits and pieces that float to the top of the water.
3. Put the lid on and simmer for 3–4 hours.
4. Strain the broth and cool completely. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months, or the refrigerator for 3–5 days.
5. When ready to serve the broth, transfer to a pot and add the remaining ingredients. Simmer gently for 30 minutes. Season to taste.
6. Enjoy this dish as a warming and nutritional meal on its own or add it instead of stock to your soups and stews.

Recipe & styling: Elizabeth Mackenzie
Photography: Samantha Pinto // HMimages.co.za

Put your herb bone broth to good use in this bulgar wheat and lemongrass ginger broth with chicken.

The post Waste not with our spicy herb bone broth appeared first on MyKitchen.