FALL HARVEST CRUDITÉ TABLE

HARVEST CRUDITE TABLE

Two of my favorite things to do are not really cooking at all.  There are merely assembling the beautiful bounty of the season.  My only job is to collect all the items and display them.

My only hint would be that you need to keep carrots, radishes and other root veggies wet until you display them so they need to be either submerged in water or fairly wet.

The rule of thumb is that if it grows under the ground it needs to be wet.  If it grows above the ground (like a pepper, tomato, zucchini or celery then it does not.

Also, I think it looks the best if you combine both cut vegetables (that are easy for the guest to eat) and whole vegetables and fruit that are not easy for the guest to eat and most likely will not be eaten but will make the table look beautiful.  No one is going to eat a whole raw eggplant but they will love the eggplant dip (aka baba ghanoush) in the bowl near the whole eggplant.  I had steamed artichokes to eat and whole artichokes to look pretty.  

Be sure to add grape leaves, fig leaves or clumps of herbs such as sage.  I usually try to make at least 3 kinds of dips such as lemon or beet hummus, green goddess, and baba ghanoush or a chipotle or remoulade.  

Have fun creating!