Perfect Cheese Board With Homemade Spiced Pear Chutney

There is no festive season without a great cheese board. Loved by absolutely everyone, made for sharing and having a great time, it is super easy to put together and it always gets a lot of attention. The secret to a perfect cheese board lies in the key ingredients and the colours.

I always start with choosing up to 5 different type of cheese: couple of classics like Cheddar or Brie, soft cheese like goat cheese or Boursin, firm cheese like Manchego or Comté and something a little bit stronger for blue cheese lovers.

I like to place them all on the platter first and build my board around it. I usually use grapes and dried fruits, a mix of nuts and a selection of different crackers. If I feel a little bit more ambitious, I like to prepare my own Christmas spiced chutney which complements the selection just perfectly!

INGREDIENTS:

For the pear chutney:

• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 300 ml liquid honey
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 kg pears, chopped into small cubes
• 200 ml cider vinegar
• 20 g ginger peeled and grated
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 200 g raisins
• Salt and pepper, to season

For the cheese board:

• 200 g Aged cheddar
• 200 g Brie
• 200 g Soft goat cheese
• 200 g Manchego cheese
• 200 g Roquefort cheese
• 100 g almonds
• 50 g walnuts
• 2 bunches of grapes
• 40 g dried apricots
• 100 g breadsticks
• 200 g crackers

METHOD:

• Place the onion, honey and garlic in a medium-size pan and simmer for 10 minutes over medium heat.
• Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to a boil.
• Lower the heat and gently simmer over low heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
• When ready, remove from the heat and spoon into the sterilised jars.
• Keep in the fridge for up to 3 months.
• Start preparing your cheeseboard. I like to do it by arranging the cheeses on the board first, adding a small bowl of homemade pear chutney and honey next and arranging nuts, fresh and dried fruits, and crackers around them.
• Enjoy!