garnish – Food and Tools

Flowers, chocolates ( yes please ) and dining are always high on the menu for Valentine’s Day and many people love to mark the occasion. But then, there are some who would rather stay at home and not get caught up in the hype. If flowers and chocolates are not for you and you find the whole romance thing a bit much, you could always garnish your food with a subtle touch of romance. Remember when Richard Gere in the movie “Shall We Dance” came up the escalators with a single red rose… well you can place your single edible rose on what ever your ~~heart~~ or stomach desires.

Cherry Tomato Rose

Ingredients:

firm cherry tomatoes (or you can use bigger tomatoes)
chives or parsley stalks
mint leaves or parsley leaves

How to make: Using a sharp paring knife cut thinly into the top of the tomato creating a base for the rose, which should still be attached to the tomato. Continue cutting a thin spiral strip around the tomato just under the skin.

Roll the strip of tomato skin up and onto the base to form the rose.

Fresh chives or parsley stalks can be use for the stem, fresh mint leaves or parsley for the leaves. Happy Valentine’s Day!

Quality counts. Chocolate… dark, milk or white always buy good quality. Room temperature chocolate gives the best results when making these easy chocolate curls.

How to curl the chocolate: Not wanting to melt the chocolate with my warm hands I used the wrapper to hold onto the bar of chocolate while running the swivel vegetable peeler firmly along the narrow side of the bar of chocolate, this gave me lots of lovely delicate chocolate curls to use for my culinary requirements. Sometimes I make the chocolate curls in advance and store them in a covered container in the fridge, chilling also makes them easier to handle.

A few ways of using the chocolate curls

Cupcakes decorated with a generous mound of chocolate curls
Hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and a sprinkling of chocolate curls
Add a touch of chocolate indulgence… pile chocolate curls on top of cheesecakes, trifles, mousse, pavlova and cakes
Pile some chocolate curls on top of ice cream before serving

It really is so easy to make chocolate curls and they add a touch of glamour to your sweet treats… so take out your vegetable peeler and get curling.