Elizabeth Eats Fruit (and cheese)

This particular project was inspired by a recipe for a fruit antipasto plate from Shape Magazine's website, which actually has a surprisingly large selection of recipe ideas (but who will, sadly, not be paying me for my endorsement).



The exciting part of making this was the cheese spreads in the middle. The left-hand one is savory, and the right sweet. They're both ricotta-based, the savory one having been melted together with gouda cheese, and the sweet with cream cheese, cinnamon, honey, and vanilla. I left them in the fridge for a few hours before making the rest, but I imagine it was still 90% luck that they maintained their shape when I tipped them out of their molds (see: small bowls).
As would be expected, the savory one tasted better with the baguette and the sweet one with the fruit, though I did try all combinations. I especially liked the savory one, and my very first thought was that it would make a fabulous sauce for macaroni and cheese. That recipe will likely be forthcoming.



Also, just as a bonus, I made a few miniature pies as well. The ones pictured here are strawberry blueberry crumble, and a smaller rendition of my first pie, peach rhubarb. I haven't tried the rhubarb (it's intended to be a gift), but I liked the crumble a lot. I think I prefer crumble to pie overall.