It doesn't take much to gussy up a bird. Add berries, herbs, and seasonal flowers to your holiday shopping list to create garnishes that make the holiday spread more visually appealing.
Not every group that gathers for Thanksgiving dinner sits down to a formally set table. Even if they do, the harried cook who sets out the entree and side dishes is unlikely to present them as embellished and worthy of a Bon Appetit photo shoot.
Cranberry relish or sauce
Lemon or orange curls add nice color contrast. If you're serving the sauce straight from the can, try slicing it, then using a cookie cutter to cut into shapes, such as a turkey or leaf shape. Serve on salad plate with orange slice and lettuce leaf.
Take your trimmings up a notch
If these simple garnishes aren't fancy enough for your feast, try your hand at some of these intermediate level garnishes, as suggested by Better Homes and Gardens.
Butter Curls: Dip a butter curler into hot water; pull lightly over a stick of firm butter to make curls about 1/8 inch thick. Repeat the hot water dip after making each butter curl. Chill until serving time.
Carrot Curls: Using a vegetable peeler, cut thin lengthwise strips of carrot. Roll each carrot strip up and secure with a wooden pick. Place in ice water for several hours to curl. Just before garnishing, remove wooden picks.
Chocolate Curls: Allow a bar of milk chocolate, sweet baking chocolate, or semisweet chocolate to come to room temperature. Carefully draw a vegetable peeler across the bar of chocolate to make long, thin strips. They will curl as you cut them. For narrow curls use the narrow side of the chocolate bar and for wide curls use the broad surface.
Chocolate Leaves: Wash and dry nontoxic leaves, such as mint, rose, lemon or strawberry. With a clean, small paintbrush, brush melted semisweet chocolate on the undersides of the leaves, building up layers of chocolate to make sturdy leaves. Wipe off any chocolate that runs onto the front of the leaves. Place leaves, chocolate side up, on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet and refrigerate or freeze until hardened. Peel real leaf away from chocolate leaf; avoid touching the chocolate as much as possible to keep it from melting.
Colorful Cutouts: Using tiny hors d'oeuvre cutters, cut slices of jellied cranberry sauce or red or green sweet peppers into tiny shapes.
Fluted Cucumbers or Zucchini: Draw the tines of a fork lengthwise down a cucumber or zucchini; repeat all around vegetable. Cut crosswise into slices.
Green Onion Brushes: Slice off the roots and most of the top portions from green onions. Make slashes at both ends to produce a fringe. Place the green onions in ice water, and the ends will curl back to resemble brushes.
Kumquat Flowers: Make several lengthwise cuts from the top of each kumquat almost to the stem end. Gently pull back the sections of peel, taking care not to tear it.
Lemon Twists: Cut 1/8-inch-thick slices from a lemon. Cut halfway across each slice, stopping at the center, and twist the ends of the slice in opposite directions.
Pastry Cutouts: Use a cookie cutter to cut shapes from dough scraps. Brush the back sides of the shapes with water and arrange them on the top crust of a pie. Cut slits in the top crust as part of the design.
Strawberry Fans: Use fresh strawberries with the green tops still attached. Slice each berry from the tip almost all the way to the stem end; carefully fan out the berry slices.
Sugar/Cocoa Designs: For a festive look, create a powdered sugar or cocoa powder design on top of an unfrosted cake or bar cookies. Simply cut a pattern from a sheet of stiff paper. Place the paper on the cake and sift the powdered sugar or unsweetened cocoa powder on top. Carefully remove the paper after sifting.
Sugared Fruit: Using a clean brush, apply a mixture of water and meringue powder all over cranberries or miniature bunches of grapes. Immediately sprinkle with granulated sugar to give a frosted look to the fruit.
Source: www.bhg.com
Reach Julie Robinson at jul...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1230.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Not every group that gathers for Thanksgiving dinner sits down to a formally set table. Even if they do, the harried cook who sets out the entree and side dishes is unlikely to present them as embellished and worthy of a Bon Appetit photo shoot.
It doesn't take long to gussy up the bird, though, in case someone does want a photo. The word is garnish, and it can be the difference between a bland plate of beige slices of turkey and a platter enticingly enhanced with herb leaves, small colorful fruits or vegetables, nuts or even edible flowers.
Who has time for this, you might ask. That's why we're running these suggestions a week before the big day. You can include some berries or fresh herbs on your Thanksgiving grocery shopping list. Or you might just have some possibilities in your own yard.
I curse when the pollen and catkins falls in the spring, and when the leaves and husks litter our patio in the fall, but a hickory tree in our back yard provides plenty of brown nuts to scatter among sage leaves bordering the bird. I know the newer blooms on the pansies in my garden don't harbor any pesticides, at least from me, so they could be tucked in, also.
If you're zesting a lemon or orange for a cranberry salad, first cut a curl or two with a vegetable peeler to use as a garnish before you zest.
The purpose of garnishing a dish is to make it more visually appealing, so consider adding items that contrast in texture and color. To keep garnishing as simple as possible, use items in their natural form. Look for items like miniature vegetables or small fruits, whole herbs and nuts.
The ingredients in the dish provide inspiration for garnishes. You probably used sage on the turkey and stuffing, so tuck sage leaves on the turkey platter. Many cranberry dishes call for orange, so orange curls are both a culinary and a visual match.
In researching this story, I found some amazing instructions on how to create intricate garnishes such as flowers from carrots, a red pepper chicken from a hard-boiled egg, and butterflies from lemons and limes. Personally, I think carrot curls and chilled butter pats are plenty fancy.
And you can never go wrong with parsley. The curly leaf variety in particular perks up just about any presentation.
Here are simple garnish suggestions for popular Thanksgiving dishes.
Turkey
The muted green of fresh sage leaves interspersed with small bunches of multicolored grapes are a classic garnish for roasted turkey. Whole, uncracked nuts, cranberries, pearl onions, even Brussel sprouts add interesting texture and color.
Stuffing
Sprigs of sage, parsley and rosemary, alone or combined add a variety of textures.
Mashed potatoes
Dice parsley or chives to sprinkle on top, and tuck sprigs along the outer edge. For more color, dust with paprika.
Sweet potato casserole
Contrast the casserole's orange color with sage or rosemary leaves tucked along the side. For the sweet marshmallow casserole variety, try orange curls on top of the white marshmallow topping.
Green bean casserole
For the classic Durkee onion green bean casserole, thinly slice some mushrooms and arrange in the corner, since the common recipe calls for cream of mushroom soup. For green beans almandine, toast and sprinkle some extra almonds on top.
Cranberry relish or sauce
Lemon or orange curls add nice color contrast. If you're serving the sauce straight from the can, try slicing it, then using a cookie cutter to cut into shapes, such as a turkey or leaf shape. Serve on salad plate with orange slice and lettuce leaf.
Take your trimmings up a notch If these simple garnishes aren't fancy enough for your feast, try your hand at some of these intermediate level garnishes, as suggested by Better Homes and Gardens.
Butter Curls: Dip a butter curler into hot water; pull lightly over a stick of firm butter to make curls about 1/8 inch thick. Repeat the hot water dip after making each butter curl. Chill until serving time.Carrot Curls: Using a vegetable peeler, cut thin lengthwise strips of carrot. Roll each carrot strip up and secure with a wooden pick. Place in ice water for several hours to curl. Just before garnishing, remove wooden picks.Chocolate Curls: Allow a bar of milk chocolate, sweet baking chocolate, or semisweet chocolate to come to room temperature. Carefully draw a vegetable peeler across the bar of chocolate to make long, thin strips. They will curl as you cut them. For narrow curls use the narrow side of the chocolate bar and for wide curls use the broad surface.Chocolate Leaves: Wash and dry nontoxic leaves, such as mint, rose, lemon or strawberry. With a clean, small paintbrush, brush melted semisweet chocolate on the undersides of the leaves, building up layers of chocolate to make sturdy leaves. Wipe off any chocolate that runs onto the front of the leaves. Place leaves, chocolate side up, on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet and refrigerate or freeze until hardened. Peel real leaf away from chocolate leaf; avoid touching the chocolate as much as possible to keep it from melting.Colorful Cutouts: Using tiny hors d'oeuvre cutters, cut slices of jellied cranberry sauce or red or green sweet peppers into tiny shapes.Fluted Cucumbers or Zucchini: Draw the tines of a fork lengthwise down a cucumber or zucchini; repeat all around vegetable. Cut crosswise into slices.Green Onion Brushes: Slice off the roots and most of the top portions from green onions. Make slashes at both ends to produce a fringe. Place the green onions in ice water, and the ends will curl back to resemble brushes.Kumquat Flowers: Make several lengthwise cuts from the top of each kumquat almost to the stem end. Gently pull back the sections of peel, taking care not to tear it.Lemon Twists: Cut 1/8-inch-thick slices from a lemon. Cut halfway across each slice, stopping at the center, and twist the ends of the slice in opposite directions.Pastry Cutouts: Use a cookie cutter to cut shapes from dough scraps. Brush the back sides of the shapes with water and arrange them on the top crust of a pie. Cut slits in the top crust as part of the design.Strawberry Fans: Use fresh strawberries with the green tops still attached. Slice each berry from the tip almost all the way to the stem end; carefully fan out the berry slices.Sugar/Cocoa Designs: For a festive look, create a powdered sugar or cocoa powder design on top of an unfrosted cake or bar cookies. Simply cut a pattern from a sheet of stiff paper. Place the paper on the cake and sift the powdered sugar or unsweetened cocoa powder on top. Carefully remove the paper after sifting.Sugared Fruit: Using a clean brush, apply a mixture of water and meringue powder all over cranberries or miniature bunches of grapes. Immediately sprinkle with granulated sugar to give a frosted look to the fruit.Source: www.bhg.com
Reach Julie Robinson at jul...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1230.
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