I think you’ll agree that this beautiful assortment of color is more than your average vegetable platter. With the following tips and when accompanied by the Green Goddess Dip, your platters are sure to become uniquely beautiful and especially tasty. As an added bonus, give visual height to your veggie compilation using cups and jars like those pictured, made by local potter Kate Belton.
GREEN GODDESS DIP
Makes about 3 cups
1½ cups Greek yogurt
1 cup sour cream
½ cup mayonnaise
Leaves and tender stems from a mix of basil, chives, cilantro, dill, mint, parsley, or tarragon
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 or 2 garlic cloves, peeled
¼ cup olive oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon horseradish
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Add the yogurt, sour cream, and mayonnaise to a food processor. (Feel free to change the ratio of these creamy ingredients to suit your preference; aim for 3 cups total.) Add a mix of herbs, more than you probably think you will need—I use nearly a full bundle each of parsley and basil, and about half a bunch of dill. Add the juice of 1 lemon (and zest, if you love lemon), the garlic cloves, olive oil, mustard, and horseradish. Season generously with salt and plenty of black pepper. Blend and chill for at least 1 hour before serving to allow flavors to get comfortable.
Adapted from “Greek Goddess Dip” by Melissa Clark at The New York Times
Tips for a Beautiful Platter
- Choose colorful and unusual vegetables. Everyone is sick of the plastic grocery store veggie trays with the same four vegetables on them. Try beets, purple cauliflower, endive, and tri-colored carrots. Scan your cart and make sure you have a good mix of green, red, yellow, orange, white, and purple.
- Keep a little green stem. If you can, find vegetables with the stalk still att ached to add a beautiful touch, whether it’s on radishes, carrots, baby squash, or beets.
- Don’t forget the minis. Aside from baby carrots—don’t get me started on the fraud that is “baby” carrots—everyone loves the mini versions of things, right? So try for baby beets, broccolini, pickling cucumbers, or haricots verts beans.
- Blanch for color and texture. Quickly blanch the tougher vegetables to brighten their color and make them more palatable; this is especially nice for asparagus, broccolini, beets, cauliflower, and green beans.
- Make it abundant. Pack your platter or tray tightly with vegetables. Emulate a pre-COVID-packed dance floor on your platter.
- Make it tall. Create height on the tray by adding slender and tall vegetables in cups or jars.
- Spritz with lemon and sprinkle with flaky salt. Once the platter is composed, squeeze lemon over the entire tray (bonus: this will turn purple caulifl ower a stunning shade of pink) and sprinkle generously with flaky sea salt.
