How To: Building an Epic Crudités
If you know me, you know how much I love crudités. I’ve probably taken my obsession to another level on a few too many occasions. The perfect example of this is on the bus ride to sleepaway camp. Where most people bring chips and candy, I brought crudités. Broccoli, carrots, tomatoes… the whole shebang! The reason I love crudités so much is because, for some reason, I feel so satisfied when I can enjoy veggies without feeling like i’m depriving myself of eating chips. In other words, I love when I can find ways to make eating vegetables enjoyable without tampering with them and adding ingredients too it, which often can take away the nutritional benefits of the veggies.
This has never really been an issue for me personally because I have never been a picky eater. I’ve always loved snacking on popcorn or chips just as much as I loved snacking on veggies. Living with two very picky brothers, however, has been motivation to cook with veggies and find ways to make them enjoyable for them to eat. Something that my family has been doing for a while now, is snack-prepping for the week. Every Sunday, we will cut up lots of veggies for the week, so they are accessible and an easy to grab snack.
Another reason I love crudités so much is because I love creating anything that is aesthetically pleasing. Crudités is delicious, but it is also beautiful. It sounds cheesy, but it’s so pleasing to create something that is visually beautiful and it is composed simply of natures produce.
So… Here are my 5 steps to creating an EPIC crudités, and recipes of my favorite dips. Enjoy!
Tips for an EPIC Crudités
Try and source your vegetables from local vendors… it always tastes better that way!
Branch out with the types of veggies you buy… it doesn’t just have to be the ordinary carrots and cucumbers. This creates a more attractive and exciting crudités.
Experiment with the ways you are cutting your veggies. It starts to look a little boring when all of your veggies are sliced in the same way.
You don’t have to arrange the veggies on the platter a certain way. Get creative!
Try out different dips. Go by your senses and what YOU think will taste good, not what a recipe tells you tastes good.
Details on my Crudités
I got all of my vegetables at the farmers market the morning of! I started off by blanching my asparagus. Blanching is a process where you quickly boil your vegetable of choice, and shock it in ice water to stop it from cooking. Next I chopped all of my veggies. I used a white, purple, yellow, and orange carrots, orange peppers (orange are the sweetest), heirloom tomatoes, radishes, endive, and my asparagus. I topped it off with my absolute favorite dip in the whole world… Green goddess.
Green Goddess Recipe
1 garlic clove
1/4 cup of greek yogurt (I used only greek, but you can also do half greek and half mayo)
1 cup of basil
1 cup of cilantro
1/2 avocado
1/2 juice of lemon
1 bunch of chives (Scallions work too)
2 tbsp EVOO
Salt and Pepper
Directions
Add everything to a blender and blend. Add EVOO to loosen the consistency and add more herbs or avocado to thicken it. Pour in bowl and top with a little EVOO.
Alternative Store-Bought Dips I Love
Makoto Dressing
MOMO Dressing
Trader Joes Everything but the Bagel Dip
