A perfect way to celebrate the colors of Spring, this simple Purple Spring Product Vegan Party Platter is simple to make, and easily customizable. Whatever fruits and veggies you can find work beautifully on the plate.
Most of this weekend was spent indoors. Which would normally be: a bust. But not this time.
Because, I was stuck inside shooting 3 food photography & videography tutorial videos with DangerCake and KibaHead, the lovely crew from SixFourNorth. Beautiful Audrey from Park Street Photography and the divine Elizabeth LaBau from SugarHero (holy, have you seen her site?!) also joined me. So instead of being a sad inside weekend, it was an awesome one.
Since each video is a Crash Course designed to help newbs effortlessly kickstart food photography, videography and stopmotion, I wanted to create content for my own channels. Showing how a few basic tricks can create beautiful photos and videos. So that's what we did.
We filmed. And photographed. Photographed and filmed.
At one point, Audrey (while posing for a photo of her taking a photo of me taking a photo) exclaimed "it's getting pretty meta in here."
That's why I keep Audrey around. She's adorable and hilarious.
The images you see here are from our Day 3 shoot. Since Audrey is vegan, I wanted to pull together a party platter she might enjoy making at home. When I hit the grocery store, seeking plant-based goodies, the purple produce of Spring was begging to be bought.
And so it was.
All the purple produce, a premade vegan cheese spread, ready-to-go baba ganoush and fig preserves. Perhaps one of my most favorite things about this platter is it's easy to mix both fruit and veggies, ending up with a gorgeous display with a variety of flavors that intermingle surprisingly well.
I don't know that I'd have previously popped passion fruit onto a platter with baba ganoush. But, it works, because there are other fruits, nuts and a lovely almond-milk cheese spread to pair with the passion. So, hurrahz.
Once finished with filming, the crew hovered around the platter and nibbled. The vegan was delighted. The nonvegans were equally so.
The perfect wish for a party platter--that everyone can find something worth gathering around.
Purple Spring Produce Vegan Party Platter
Serves 8-12 | 20 mins
FOR THE PRODUCE
- Purple Carrots/Cauliflower/Asparagus/Eggplant, sliced
- Purple Grapes
- Kumato Tomatoes, halved
- Watermelon Radish
- Passion Fruit, halved
- Blackberries, skewered
- Pitted Olive Mix
- Dates
FOR THE ADD-ONS, CHEESE & DIPS
- 1 pint prepared baba ganoush or hummus
- 1 package almond milk or cashew cheese spread (I used Kite Hill), rolled in crushed walnuts
- purple potato chips, crushed (for garnish)
- 2 boxes flatbread, melba toasts or
- 1 bottle vegan jam
- 1/2 cup marcona almonds
- 1 cup crispy chickpeas
Arrange all ingredients on a large platter. If desired, garnish with fresh flowers and greens. Enjoy!