{ cheese and wine entertaining }

Cheese platters are a great standby for New Year's entertaining that are fast to assemble. Choose a couple of your favorite cheeses and a few new companions to create a platter of different flavors, textures and origins of cheeses. A cheese platter is a classic part of your New Year's menu as an add-on in the buffet, as a dessert or even as a lunch accompanied by salads.

When you plan a shopping list for the cheese platter, choose three to five different types of cheeses. Choose a combination of strong and mild, hard and soft, sharp and creamy. We used creamy pepper cheese, brie, blue cheese and aged gouda in our cheese platter.

Serve the cheese room temperature since the flavors come out stronger when the cheese is not too cold. So, remember to take the platter out of the fridge an hour before the party. Label the cheeses so the guests will be able to identify the cheeses better, and know what to buy later themselves if they find a new favorite.

Photo: Real Simple from www.myrecipes.com

Serve the cheese with crackers, flatbread or sliced fresh bread. Some flavors compliment the cheese platter great. Figs, grapes and plums go with all kinds of cheeses for sure. Nuts, dried fruit and different jams are also great companions. The fig jam I made before Christmas worked great especially with gouda. Fresh figs and grapes are my favorites with cheese and wine. Also try a splash of maple syrup with brie sometimes.

We had a sweet part of the cheese platter too, Finnish squeaky cheese. It is often served with arctic jam made of cloudberries. We had cloudberry jelly with little pieces of this sweet flavored Finnish dessert cheese.

I like rose wine with the sweeter cheeses. The stronger the wine, the stronger the cheeses served with it should be. Strong flavored blue cheese calls for full bodied red wine. White wine can be served with lighter and fresh flavored cheeses such as goat cheese.

How many bottles of wine to buy for a party? The wine and entertaining guideline is half a bottle of wine per guest. If you are serving several different kinds of wine, less per kind is enough. Of course, it's always better to have a few bottles left over than to run out of wine on New Year's Eve! Too cold or warm wine can dull its flavor. Serve red wine room temperature or slightly chilled. White wine can be a bit cooler, so chill it for 30 minutes before serving.

Group the cheeses on a wooden board or a platter, and provide the right kinds of knives for all the cheeses. Soft cheeses can be spread with a table knife, whereas hard cheese require sharper knives. Add your choice of complimenting flavors such as fruit and nuts. Don't forget the crackers and bread. Very impressive and enjoyable!

After you have enjoyed the cheeses, wrap them seperately to protect their aromas.