RECIPE: SUMMER SHARING BOARD

I was feeling quite uninspired about my lunch and was wondering how I could make it more appetising, when I realised that all my favourite salad bowls were dirty. However this spawned inspiration as I suddenly thought, wouldn’t it be nice to make a sharing board for everyone at home instead. I am so pleased I did because it really makes your food look so much more appetising so you enjoy your meal way more. Also, as all the foods are separate and haven’t been mixed together you can really savour the taste of each thing. So for a great and delicious show piece for when some friends come round, that you can whip up in 20 mins max, read on…

INGREDIENTS:

some handfuls of spinach
tomatoes still on the vine
cucumber (cut into sticks)
olives
avocado (sliced)
2 spring onions (sliced diagonally)
grapes still on the vine
houmous
vegan cheese chunks (cheeze is a good brand, or homemade vegan soft cheese, see my recipe here)
fresh bread (sliced diagonally)
2 sweet potatoes
1 tbsp paprika
olive oil

Note: you can put whatever you want on the sharing board. I think a selection of fruit (grapes or strawberries) as well as traditional salad ingredients really adds to it though. And it’s always nice to a have some kind of dip in a pot on the board.

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Leave the skin on the sweet potatoes, just cut off the ends and any nasty parts. Then cut into quite big chunks, toss in the paprika and olive oil and bake for 20 minutes, turning occasionally.
Meanwhile put the houmous/dip and olives in little pots, slice up the cheese, bread and salad ingredients and arrange everything on a wooden board however you like.
Scatter the spring onions over the chunks of vegan cheese.
Finally, spoon the roasted sweet potato into the centre of the board (scattering with chopped chives adds an extra final touch) and enjoy!