Updated relish tray = antipasto plate which I often do when entertaining.Could be all kinds of things but usually includes a few kinds of olives, marinated bocconcini or caprese skewers, marinated artichoke hearts and mushrooms, grissini, roasted red peppers, those little stuffed peppers whose name I can’t remember, etc.
For Thanksgiving, given all the heavy dinner food, we keep the starters/apps light by doing a big crudite platter with a couple dips or different flavored hummus.
There are also all kinds of interesting pickled things like carrots and green beans.
We do a small one. I stuff the celery half with pimento cheese and half with Bleu cheese/cream cheese mixture. Some olive bar olives from Wegmans. Some pickles.
I go full on antipasto platter. There are some great tutorials on pinterest on how to make a fantastic one. Its super easy and a great way to use up those little jars of jelly etc you have stashed away. Super easy and fun.
Yes, we generally stick with old-fashioned traditions for the holidays, and a relish tray for Thanksgiving is one of them. Required items are good olives, cheese-stuffed celery, and deviled eggs. Our local Publix has a nice olive bar, so I usually get several types of olives, plus pickled vegetables or whatever else looks good there. I make the deviled eggs myself - the family always requests them.
I make mine with usual stuff, carrots celery cucumbers etc But I put each veggie in a different hollowed out pepper. Try to color coordinate so for example celery is in an orange pepper and tomatoes are inside a green pepper. Then in the middle of the tray I hollow out a cabbage and fill with spinach dip or red pepper dip.
Sorry, no help here. My “relish tray”: Open a can of black olives. Possibly open a jar of green olives with pimiento. Place olives in a small glass or crystal compote dish. Done!
When I was a kid my grandmother’s relish tray always included watermelon pickle and spiced apple rings. I love pickled vegetables of any kind. Some great ideas here.
I also remember the pickled watermelon rind and spiced apple rings - I feel like no one ate the apple rings!
A relish tray is like a fun picnic to me. Any of the above stuff sounds good. Definitely need some olives. I personally would choose many other olives above black - though they are fine. How about some stuffed olives - blue cheese or garlic? Spicy pickles?
My mom always saves the juice from store bought peppers or pickles or beets (though she pickles her own) and drops cut up veggies like carrots, cauliflower, onions, etc. and drops them in the juice - let them sit in the refrig for a couple of days and you have fantastic pickled veggies!
@doschicos do you mean the stuffed little cherry peppers or peppadews? I love them both.’’
Another twist on a relish dish is a charcuterie board. You can use lots of raw veggies and add in olives, cheese, nuts, dried fruit, fresh fruit, sliced sausage/salami - whatever you like!