Garnishing

ligytha

Garnishing can make your meals look better and if you eat the garnish, you can get some veggies too! Easily make a regular meal special. Here are some simple ones. No skill involved:

Curls:
Peel a carrot as normal. Now, take the peeler and go down the length of the carrot so you have a long strip. Use a toothpick to pin into a curl and place in ice water for at least an hour. Remove the toothpick before use. This works for cucumbers as well!

Flowers:
Take a large carrot (or other root-veggie), peel, and cut into 1" sections. Take an apple cutter/corer cand place directly over your carrot piece. Press down and cut about half-way through the carrot. Using a knife, remove the stump of carrot that passed through the center coring section. Ta-da! Fill the middle with anything you like.

Rings:
Again with the carrots, but you can use any sturdy veggie. Peel carrots and cut into 1/4" thick medallions. Remove the center of the medallions. Now you can use it to hold green beans, asparagus, etc.

Bundles:
Cut a carrot (or other veggie) up into small strips (ie, "julienne"). You can same time by cuttiny a baby carrot up as they're the perfect length. Steam or boil until tender-firm if desired. Now, cut a strip from the top of an onion, leek, or scallion. Tie the carrot sticks together.

Sweet Potato Rose:
Peel sweet potato. Cut into 1/8" thick medallions. You'll need 10-15. Put medallions in a bowl of water and microwave for 5 minutes so that they are pliable. Drain. Roll up one medallion, and roll another around it, and another around that until you have used all of them. You should now have a fairly continuous roll. Secure with toothpicks. Cut a bit off of one end of the roll so it will sit flat. Adjust if needed. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Place in a muffin-tin and bake at 350F for 10-15 min. Remove toothpicks before use. This works with regular potato and turnip too.

Chicken Egg:
Hard-boil and egg. Take a bell pepper and cut two rectangles out of it that are roughly 2 x 1.5 inches each. Rectangle 1 will be the chicken's tail. Cut it into a fan-shape for the tail and make a couple zig-zag cuts on the wide end. Cut rectangle 2 in half lengthwise. Make some zig-zag cuts on the long side of rectangle 2-a. This will be the comb. Cut rectangle 2-b into a triangle for a beak. Cut two small pieces from an olive for eyes. Cut a bit off the bottom of the peeled egg so that it sits without rolling. Make a slit in the back and inset the tail. Make a slit in the front and insert the beak. Make a slit on the top and insert the comb.

ligytha

Garnishing can make your meals look better and if you eat the garnish, you can get some veggies too! Easily make a regular meal special. Here are some simple ones. No skill involved:

Curls:
Peel a carrot as normal. Now, take the peeler and go down the length of the carrot so you have a long strip. Use a toothpick to pin into a curl and place in ice water for at least an hour. Remove the toothpick before use. This works for cucumbers as well!

Flowers:
Take a large carrot (or other root-veggie), peel, and cut into 1" sections. Take an apple cutter/corer cand place directly over your carrot piece. Press down and cut about half-way through the carrot. Using a knife, remove the stump of carrot that passed through the center coring section. Ta-da! Fill the middle with anything you like.

Rings:
Again with the carrots, but you can use any sturdy veggie. Peel carrots and cut into 1/4" thick medallions. Remove the center of the medallions. Now you can use it to hold green beans, asparagus, etc.

Bundles:
Cut a carrot (or other veggie) up into small strips (ie, "julienne"). You can same time by cuttiny a baby carrot up as they're the perfect length. Steam or boil until tender-firm if desired. Now, cut a strip from the top of an onion, leek, or scallion. Tie the carrot sticks together.

Sweet Potato Rose:
Peel sweet potato. Cut into 1/8" thick medallions. You'll need 10-15. Put medallions in a bowl of water and microwave for 5 minutes so that they are pliable. Drain. Roll up one medallion, and roll another around it, and another around that until you have used all of them. You should now have a fairly continuous roll. Secure with toothpicks. Cut a bit off of one end of the roll so it will sit flat. Adjust if needed. Spray lightly with cooking spray. Place in a muffin-tin and bake at 350F for 10-15 min. Remove toothpicks before use. This works with regular potato and turnip too.

Chicken Egg:
Hard-boil and egg. Take a bell pepper and cut two rectangles out of it that are roughly 2 x 1.5 inches each. Rectangle 1 will be the chicken's tail. Cut it into a fan-shape for the tail and make a couple zig-zag cuts on the wide end. Cut rectangle 2 in half lengthwise. Make some zig-zag cuts on the long side of rectangle 2-a. This will be the comb. Cut rectangle 2-b into a triangle for a beak. Cut two small pieces from an olive for eyes. Cut a bit off the bottom of the peeled egg so that it sits without rolling. Make a slit in the back and inset the tail. Make a slit in the front and insert the beak. Make a slit on the top and insert the comb.

DBranchaud

These sound ADORABLE!!! especially the chicken egg^_^