Perfectly ripe fresh fruit is one the simplest and most enjoyable ways to end a meal. It’s effortless, healthful, and satisfying, especially when paired with cheese, its classic partner. Fresh fruit is best when it’s in season locally. In fact, when strawberries finally appear at the farm stand, they’re usually our first consideration in planning a menu: What would be a good supper to have before we eat the strawberries?

　　

Ingredients

　　

Step 1

To create a cheese platter to serve alone or with fruit at the end of a meal, select cheeses with a range of tastes from delicate, mild, and buttery, to strong, rich, and nutty, to salty, sharp, and pungent. Choose a balance of textures from soft and voluptuous to hard and crumbly. Traditionally, a cheese course moves from mild cheeses to sharp to rich, but for the simplest presentation, arrange cheeses together on a platter with crackers (try crackers seasoned with pepper or rosemary) or thin slices of baguette. A few walnuts and a glass of port might be welcome also.

　　

Some of our favorite ideas for simple fruit and cheese plates are

Step 2

Grapes with Gorgonzola, Brie, or Stilton

　　

Step 3

Cherries with nutty Gruyère or Emmental

　　

Step 4

Goat cheese with clementines or fresh or dried apricots, dates, or figs

　　

Step 5

Feta or ricotta salata with watermelon and cantaloupe

　　

Step 6

Pears with Roquefort, Taleggio, or Manchego and toasted walnuts or pine nuts

　　

Step 7

Plump dates with aged Parmigiano - Reggiano or with mascarpone and toasted walnuts or almonds

　　

Step 8

A blue cheese surrounded with slices of oranges or Asian pears

　　

Step 9

Fresh figs or strawberries with thin wedges of Tuscan Pecorino or Pecorino Romano drizzled with honey and olive oil and sprinkled with freshly ground black pepper

　　

Step 10

In the fall and winter, lots of apple varieties are in season. Choose a couple you’re not familiar with and some old favorites. Serve the apples with several cheeses and sample all the different combinations of apples and cheese.

　　From Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers: Fresh Ideas for the Weeknight Table. Copyright © 2017 by Moosewood Collective. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House, LLC. Buy the full book from ThriftBooks or Amazon.