Decorating a Plate

I have been trying to learn the art of decorating a plate in the fancy style that chefs often use. If you are going to try doing it you need to spend plenty of time practising. The chefs make it look easy but it isn't. Obviously the food used for the decoration has to match the food on the plate as regards taste but if you are looking for particular colour ideas you could try some of these these.

With Green
Take a bunch of fresh herbs such as Parsley and Sage. Immerse them in boiling water for 20 seconds. Strain them and put straight into ice cold water. Put the herbs into a blender and mix with some light oil such as rapeseed oil. Add some Extra Virgin Olive Oil and blend again. Bottle the resulting liquid and stopper it to keep it fresh. Use a paintbrush to put it on the plate or simply dribble it into a round spot.

With Red
Tomato Ketchup

With Orange
Barbecue Sauce

With Yellow
A slice of Lemon

With Yellow
Sweetcorn.

With Purple
Mash some beetroot and put it into a piping bag.

With Brown
Brown sauce.

With Brown for a dessert
Choclate sauce

With red for a dessert
Strawberry sauce.

Mushroom, poached egg yolk and micro-salad starter

Ingredients
I large flat mushroom per person
1 egg yolk per person
Butter
Rocket
Water-cress
Spinach
White wine vinegar
Whole grain mustard
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper


Method
Prepare the micro-salad by putting a mixture of rocket, spinach and water cress in a bowl. In a separate bowl put two teaspoons of white wine vinegar, a teaspoon of mustard, a tablespoon of olive oil, some freshly ground black pepper, and sea salt and mix well. Pour over the micro salad.

Gently fry the mushrooms in butter.

In a large pan heat water and add two teaspoons of white wine vinegar. Swirl the water around in the pan until it has a momentum of its own. Carefully drop the egg yolk in the centre of the water and cook briefly until lightly poached.

Serve the mushroom with the egg yolk on top and then loosely drape the micro salad on top.

(Note – in these photos, which were an early experiment, the salad was placed on top without any dressing. Using a dressing on it improves it, in my opinion.)