Want to make a beautiful vegetable platter? Try these ideas for making beautiful garnishes.
To make a tomato rose simply pick a tomato of any size. Make sure it is a gel variety like a Roma tomato. Take a very sharp knife and start peeling it like you would an apple. Keep peeling until you have the longest length possible and then coil the peel into a rose shape. Using pink, red and orange tomatoes can create a lovely bouquet for a centerpiece.
Use your cookie cutters for something other than making cookies. Small cookies cutters can be used to press shapes (heart shaped for instance) out of carrots, cucumber coins, apple slices and any other vegetable that can be sliced thinly or flatly.
Borage is the plant that they make evening primrose oil out of. The blue blossoms are edible and they have a mild taste that is reminiscent of cucumber. Borage makes a very interesting garnish sprinkled placed at the side of a vegetable platter.
Chrysanthemums are tangy yet slightly bitter buds that in colors from red, white, yellow and orange. They range in taste from faint peppery to mild cauliflower. They add a kind of Asian flavored twist to platters. They look gorgeous suspended in tomato aspic. Sprinkle the petals in a salad or on the surface of a bowl of tomato soup to add visual interest.
Cucumber balls are a nice surprise in a salad and make a delicious departure from the ordinary. In order to make cucumber balls simply slice a cucumber in half and then use a melon baler to scoop out the contents into ball shapes (exactly the same way you would a melon.
To make a cherry tomato flower simply dissect a cherry tomato by cutting it into four slices from the top downwards. However don’t slice through to the base of the tomato. This allows you to fan the “petals” of the cherry tomato outward. These cherry tomato flowers look lovely on a salad or on top of a dip.
To make an interesting garnish for a dip simply drop one whole dandelion blossom into the center of the bowl or the glass. Make sure you buy your dandelion blossoms from a specialty market. Dandelions add a slight peppery taste to dishes.
Marjoram buds are tiny pink flowers that taste heavily of the spice. They look nice sprinkled on disks of sliced tomatoes!