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Crudités are sliced or whole vegetables served as an appetizer or first course with dip. Blanching some vegetables can enhance taste and digestibility. Consider taste, texture, and appearance when choosing vegetables for a platter. Variety in flavor and color is important, and crudités can be a healthy snack for children.
Crudités (pronounced crew-dee-tay) are small sliced or whole vegetables that can make up the first course of a meal or are more commonly found as appetizers in banquet-style eating. They’re often served with an appropriate dip—ranch dressing is a popular choice. Vegetable slices, especially for banquets, should be just the right size to provide a bite or two, and easy to hold, or place on a small plate or napkins. Crudités are a great choice when serving appetizers, since they appeal to dieters, who can fill up on these low-calorie items and cater for any vegetarian guests as well.
When deciding what to serve on a vegetable platter, consider taste, texture, and appearance. You will need to decide if any of the vegetables you use for crudités should be blanched first. Blanching can help make some vegetables more appealing and easier to eat. Consider blanching the following vegetables for crudités:
Asparagus
broccoli
Cauliflower
Zucchini or other summer squash
Green beans
Most other vegetables don’t require blanching, but the above are likely to taste slightly better and be more digestible if they’ve been lightly cooked for a minute or two. You don’t want to blanch vegetables like mushrooms, tomatoes, celery, radishes, or carrots.
While you’re considering the taste, consider the variety. The cherry tomatoes and carrots mix well with the greener flavors of the broccoli. The delicate flavors of cauliflower, mushrooms and green beans set off the more distinctively flavored asparagus. By providing plenty of variety in flavours, you will be offering crudités to guests who may have a range of tastes in which vegetables they prefer. At the very least, choose a few different flavors to please all guests. The simplest crudités might be a plate of tomatoes, broccoli, carrots and mushrooms, but feel free to get elaborate.
Texture and color choices are important in the composition of a plate of crudités. Vegetables come in such a huge array of colors. Consider having something white, yellow, orange, red, and green for the best possible look on your plate, and for a rainbow of delicious veggies. Try cauliflower, baby corn, carrots, tomatoes and radishes, and asparagus or broccoli for colors that will really invigorate this appetizer.
Provide lots of textures, from extremely crumbly, like carrots and broccoli to the soft rendering of mushrooms. Your guests with tooth problems can thank you for halving the cherry tomatoes and providing some soft veggies to eat. For those who simply love all vegetables, different textures offer a wonderful celebration of nature’s bounty.
Crudites aren’t just for parties. Many children will be happy to consume vegetables when they are attractively displayed and feature a little dip on the side. To lower your cholesterol and sodium, make a yogurt dip instead of using mayonnaise. Keeping a plate of fresh veggies in the fridge is great for kids who like to graze between meals. It’s a healthy choice that’s low in calories and yet still pleasantly crunchy, sweet, and fresh.
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