Are you preparing a nice cheese or ham platter and would like to decorate it a little more? As the saying goes, we eat with our eyes, and small decorations make food look great too. Wonderful decorations can be created with vegetables or fruit. Here are a few suggestions:
Decorations for cold platters for parties
Apple
Cut a quarter out of an apple with a sharp knife. Then cut 2 more small quarters out of this quarter. Drizzle the cut surfaces with lemon juice so the apple doesn't turn brown. Then place the whole apple on the platter and the quarters into the cut surface and push them apart slightly downwards so that it looks like a fan.
Radishes
Notches:Cut very fine strips (that converge at the top and bottom) from the radish from top to bottom. Carefully push the radishes apart so that you can see the space in between.
Flowers:To create a flower, cut a radish into thin slices. For the next one, cut it crosswise 4 times at the top (not all the way to the bottom, but only a little over halfway!), so that 8 columns are created. Finally, place a slice in each column.
Blossoms:Cut the radish crosswise twice – again not all the way to the bottom, but only a little over halfway. Then, using a sharp knife, cut a semi-circular circle into the side of the 4 halves (again only at the top and not to the bottom). Push the peel slightly outwards and the blossoms are ready.
Extra tip:Place the blossoms in lukewarm water so they bloom even more beautifully.
Oranges
Orange baskets:Halve large untreated oranges in a zigzag pattern with a sharp knife. Then scrape out the fruit flesh and line the oranges with small torn lettuce leaves. Now you can wonderfully fill them with salads or spreads (e.g., a poultry or shrimp salad). Additionally, you can decorate the whole thing with a cocktail cherry.
Oranges with a handle:For this, cut out 2 quarters on the same side of the orange with a sharp knife, leaving only a thinner strip as a handle. Then remove the fruit flesh and leave only the peel of the handle. Also remove the fruit flesh from the lower 'basket' and then it is ready to be filled.
Cucumbers
Cucumber boats:Wash a cucumber and cut it into approx. 10 diagonal pieces, then halve these again. Hollow out the seeds with a spoon. Now you can fill this with a spread, for example. It looks beautiful if you do this with a piping bag. Finally, sprinkle with herbs or diced vegetables.
Peppers
Take a large bell pepper and cut off the lid with the stem, remove seeds and ribs, and now you can nicely fill it with dips, salads, or spreads.
Tomatoes:
Cut off the lid of the tomato, scrape out the fruit flesh, and fill with dips, salads, or spreads.
Cheese
Cheese stars:Take a medium-aged Gouda cheese in thin slices and use a cookie cutter to cut out stars. Sprinkle these with a little paprika and then distribute them on the cheese platter – it's a colorful eye-catcher.
Pickles
Fanned:For this, cut the gherkin lengthwise with a sharp knife more than halfway through (but do not cut all the way through!) into slices. Fan them out nicely and place them on the platter.
Grissini
Grissini ham sticks:Wrap the grissini with 1 slice of ham or mortadella.
Lettuce & Herbs:
Lettuce:Lettuce is always a hot tip for decorating platters. Simply take a few nice large leaves from, for example, a head of lettuce, wash them, pat them dry, and lay them out on the platters. Of course, any other lettuce works too.
Herbs:Herbs are also always a nice eye-catcher; parsley is best suited here. But of course, you can use a wide variety of herbs according to your taste and what is on the platter: distribute rosemary sprigs (e.g., with meat), dill sprigs (e.g., with fish), basil (e.g., salads, vegetables (especially tomatoes)), or lemon balm (e.g., with fruit), etc.
Read also: Recipes for a finger food buffet
Photo by Sabine, meinhaushalt.at
