Boards and Spreads by Yasmin Fahr

Boards and Spreads

by Yasmin Fahr

Go beyond cheese with 65 recipes for delicious boards and epic spreads, whether you’re in the mood for a girl dinner or appetizers, breakfast, snacks, and more.

In Boards & Spreads, you won’t find cheese boards--instead, you’ll find simple ideas and scrumptious recipes for a variety of meals and snacks to share on platters or boards. From the Top-Your-Own Chili Board to the Crispy Chicken Bites Spread, and from the Charred Salad Platter to the Egg Pita Sandwich Board, you’ll find something for every meal and mood. Even drinks can be served in this fun fashion, whether it's a Bloody Mary Bar at brunch or low-ABV cocktails at an afternoon picnic. There are also plenty of quick recipes for dips, spreads, and other tempting add-ons you'll turn to time and again, like Smashed Olives, Quick-Pickled Shallots and Jalapenos, and Two-Minute Feta Dip.

Whether you’re looking for a snackable spread for two, a grazing board to share when friends come over, or simply looking for easy-to-make recipes you can throw together on a whim, Boards & Spreads shows you how to turn everyday ingredients into festive, low-effort meals.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

5 of 5 stars

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Originally posted on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Boards and Spreads is a well written and beautifully illustrated guide to creating platter and board arrangements by Yasmin Fahr. Due out 23rd Aug 2022 from Penguin Random House on their Clarkson-Potter imprint, it's 192 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.

The author has a very chatty and friendly writing style and her reasoning for grazing and boards as a dining choice really resonated with me. If you don't want to go to the effort of dining out, but at the same time don't want to expend the effort cooking at home - boards are a nice alternative. The introduction covers the basics of building a board including the board itself (not necessarily wooden), bowls, serving utensils, and food considerations.

The board setups are arranged thematically: breakfast, breads, snacking salad & veggie platters, meal boards, al fresco/picnics, extras, and dips spreads & fun things. The highlighted recipes used in the boards are listed right with the boards to which they belong, saving readers searching or bookmarking and having to flip back and forth. Recipe ingredients are listed in a bullet-style sidebar. Measurements are in imperial (American) measurements followed by step by step instructions. The book doesn't include nutritional information or portion sizes. The recipes are pictured with the finished boards and the pictures are beautifully clear and colorful. Most recipe ingredients will be easy to source and familiar to readers.

The dishes and boards here aren't *fancy* but they really *feel* special because of the presentation. I liked everything about this book, from the varied dishes, to the presentation, the clearly written recipes, and the beautiful photography and food styling. Five stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

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