So here comes another piece in my (Creative) Kitchen Goddess series – 5 quick and easy tips how to improve your cuisine achievements.
1) Buy nice plates. Simple, yet effective – an elegant plate somehow makes you try to arrange the food on it in a nicer way, and by itself makes whatever you plop on it look better. I go for the square, white plates – pure form and elegance also by association, since many restaurants use them.
2) Keep a pot or two of fresh herbs in the kitchen. Basil and mint are the most common choices, and you cannot go wrong with them. Every time you serve a meal/set plates on the table, you can decorate them with a few leaves – smells nice, looks great and suggests you did make an effort.
3) Try to experiment. Many of us have a “standard” set of recipes we’ve managed to master, and we tend to stick to them. While it’s an easy solution, it makes cooking/baking more of a chore, since you always do the same. Buy a few cooking magazines or books, or surf the net in search of something that catches your fancy and is not too complicated – it’ll add the fun factor of “exploring new territories” and will diversify your menu.
4) Surprise whomever you’re serving food to with a dinner consisting of 3 courses – a starter, main course and dessert. None of them need to be elaborate, on the contrary, keep it simple as not to overwork yourself, but serve it one after another on a nicely decorated table and with a glass of wine – an everyday dinner turned something special.
5) Top the food with something fresh, it usually makes it both look and taste better. I’m talking about freshly grounded pepper (works on almost everything), chopped fresh herb leaves (on meat, sauces, potatoes, vegetable dishes), freshly grounded parmesan (on pizza, spaghetti), freshly squeezed lemon juice (with fish, out a slice if lemon next to it), slices of fresh tomato, ruccola leaves etc.
(Creative) Kitchen Goddesses out there – go and impress with your food ;-)