Avocado Veggie Crudité: A Veggie Tray Reborn

We know what you’re thinking: a veggie platter can be an unwelcome party guest. But it doesn’t have to be that way. A carefully prepared vegetable crudité platter – a French appetizer of raw, cut vegetables with a dip – can be the perfect pre-dinner plate.

There are a few tricks to curating a beautiful platter, and one of them includes a naturally creamy, flavorful avocado-based dip. We bet our radishes you’ll not only delight but impress your guests at your next dinner party. Here’s how.

Putting Together the Perfect Platter

There are a few key tips and tricks to pulling together a fresh, beautiful arrangement of crudité. The first is to use whatever veggies are in season so they’re at their peak when you buy them. You want a mix of textures, from crisp cucumber spears and crunchy radish slivers to pop-in-your-mouth cherry tomatoes. Chop and slice no more than two hours prior to serving so that they remain crisp on your avocado veggie crudité.

If you’re using green vegetables like French green beans or snap peas, be sure to blanch them first to bring out their vibrant green hue and to give them that tender-crisp snap. Separate small lettuce heads such as Belgian endive or radicchio, and include at least four vegetables, including some that are pickled, to provide another layer of briny flavor.

You can even do as the French do and mix in some charcuterie (fine deli meats) and cheese along with crostini or fresh baguette slices. The final piece to your avocado veggie crudité is the avocado itself – in the form of a delicious dip.

The Dip

The ideal dip will have enough heft to stick to the vegetables, character of its own, and a pleasing mouth-feel so that you want to dunk another time or two.

This Spicy Avocado Dip harnesses the naturally creamy texture of Avocados From Mexico by combining it with cream cheese, cilantro, jalapeño chile, lime juice, salt and pepper. This gets whirled in a food processor until creamy and served to complete your avocado veggie crudité.

The Perfect Avocado

To ensure you’re buying a perfectly ripe specimen, just hold the avocado in the palm of your hand and gently squeeze. The fruit should yield a little (don’t press hard — a little pressure is all you want here). Watch this handy video to see how it’s done.

But if you’ve already purchased your avocados and found they’re a bit under-ripe, simply put your avocado in a bowl and cover with rice. The grain will do the trick in a couple of days.

This avocado veggie crudité will be the talk of the party.

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