veggie platter makeover

Wilted celery sticks, boring baby carrots: To the compost heap with you! It’s time for a crudité revamp. No more foisting predictable snacks on my party guests. Inspired by the recent Bastille Day festival in L.A. (a Parisian waiters' race? French lawn bowling? Whoo hoo!), I thought a more authentic French spread would be très chic and not too heavy in the heat.

Aioli, a garlic mayonnaise, serves as both dip and spread, and perks up everything from the asparagus to crab to plain hunks of bread. The only thing is making a true aioli sort of freaks me out, what with the raw egg yolks and all (plus, my kitchen is currently very hot). So I cheated with a fast mayo-based recipe, which works just fine if you’re short on time.

I invited over a friend and her fiancé for lunch, and it turns out the spread was way more filling than I expected. With the addition of crusty bread and cheese, the recipe here worked as a full lunch for four (with leftovers). Or try it as a grazing platter at a large party.

Veggie Makeover
Haricots verts are young, very slender green beans. They’re available at Trader Joe’s and some supermarkets.

• ½ pound new potatoes, scrubbed
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, divided
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• ½ pound steamed haricots verts, cooled
• ½ pound steamed asparagus, cooled
• 6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half
• 12 toasted baguette slices topped with store-bought tapenade and crumbled goat cheese
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes or teardrop tomatoes
• ½ pound fresh lump crab meat, picked through to remove any bits of shell
• 1 cup cured black olives
• sea salt and pepper to taste

Place potatoes in large pot and add water just to cover. Heat to boiling, then reduce to low. Cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper. Let cool.

Drizzle steamed haricots verts with remaining vinegar and oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Aioli

• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• ½ teaspoon salt
• pinch of cayenne
• ½ cup bottled mayonnaise

In a blender or food processor, combine lemon juice, zest, garlic, salt and cayenne until mixture forms a paste. Mix into mayonnaise.

Arrange vegetables, eggs, crab, olives and toasted baquette slices with tapenade on platter. Serve with aioli.

Comments

This is AWESOME!!!! What a twist to the original platter. I love it and will put it in action this wknd!

What a fantastic idea! It's about we say good-bye to those boring crudité and ranch dressing platters that our guests don't eat anyway and hello to a new twist on easy appetizers that guests are sure to devour. For a spin on the boiled eggs: throw away the yoke and stuff the egg white a mix of solid white tuna, mild salsa, a drop of light mayo, and fresh black pepper to taste. Enjoy!

WOW! Little coloring and creativity in this disply, goes a long way :)
If you can find pretty platter for the display, your guests would really enjoy it and strike a good party coversation about it!

Great idea! Definitely a much more elegant approach than those store bought trays.

Just lovely . Way to go with this new twist . Keep it coming . LOL, SFT

What a lovely presentation! I am having a large family dinner in a couple of weeks and am going to have this ready when my guests walk in the door.