Rainbow chard, peach granola, yogurt, cucumber, aged-sherry vinaigrette, chard stems shocked in ice water for garnish. All feed back appreciated!
by owenosheaa
Rainbow chard, peach granola, yogurt, cucumber, aged-sherry vinaigrette, chard stems shocked in ice water for garnish. All feed back appreciated!
by owenosheaa
8 Comments
I am at a loss for words. For starters, why is there granola and braised fennel on the same plate..? What led you to making this?
It’s gonna be a no for me dawg..
In all seriousness, there’s absolutely no cohesiveness to this dish. Nothing goes together. Learn a little bit more about how to marry ingredients and build dishes that actually taste good. It seems like you tried too hard to make something pretty and showcase techniques, without thinking about whether it tasted good, or whether these items should even be on the same plate together.
This looks like shit, here is why though.
1. Yogurt braised fennel and granola????, it’s just Ew.
Here’s what you can do though, swap out the granola for a candied nut like pecans or almonds, if a sweet crunch flavor profile and texture you’re looking for, if not you can even go with seeds, roasted sunflower seeds or Pepitas. Use the yogurt as part of your vingeratte/dressing, swooshing the fat obnoxious amount of yogurt on the plate is just not gonna cut it. Take peaches, slice, soak in water and brown sugar for an hr or so, and then roast em off for a bit say 25mins on 350-375 get good light color but don’t burn em either we really just want a nice soft easy to purée texture. Use all of that out the oven with your sherry and little bit of yogurt, add salt to taste, that’s your vinaigrette boom done.
2. Your platting is just lazy or comes off that way anyway or uninspired.
Use a nice salad bowl, if a plate is being pressured or forced to use that’s fine just instead place your greens in a metal mixing bowl, add say 75% of the ingredients you want on your salad in LIGHTLY apply your vinaigrette to the mixture GENTLY roll/mix these ingredients to be fully incorporated and then apply on to your plate, that last 25% of your portion should go on top so people can see every ingredient on their salad in full display add a pink of salt too while you’re at it.
3. Roll your cucumbers, this cucumber python action is just strange.
Roll your cucumbers instead, it gives a tighter and cleaner look on the plate, also it gives you space to add something else that’s complimenting the flavors here and being seasonal. We’re about to hit that summer season for heirloom cherry tomatoes another simple but fun ingredient to your summer salad. You can also go with figgs, if memory serves me right they won’t be seasonal till later this summer though, watermelon could be interesting too but honestly just stick with tomatoes if anything.
Regardless though this dish looks bad mostly because it’s greens hanging out on the top half of the plate, and then two fat scoops skidding up the plate, I think if you change the approach of executing and then plating the dish you can make this look leagues better and more enjoyable to eat. Good luck.
There is nothing that looks even remotely appetizing about this dish. I’d be fuming if I paid for this
I’ll take a deconstructed salad parfait please… Said no one ever. Back to the drawing board. Also can I get the number for your weed guy. That shit must be amazing.
Interesting combination of flavours! There is too much yogurt in the plate and the flavours do seem a little strange but not a bad attempt!
If you wanted to mellow the flavours better you could blend the yogurt and fennel yo make a sauce! or add a protein like grilled salmon! If you want to add a crunch element maybe slicing some strips of potatoes or wonton skins would be better as it leans towards a savoury dish. Overall if its your first tome good try!
Flip it 90 and you’ve got a “Hello Dave”
People are using this beginner post as an opportunity to be assholes, so let me be direct. You have a combination of sweet and savory here, which I don’t mind on paper- I think the fact that its a vegetable with parfait ingredients thats getting to people.
I like the concept of the braised fennel. I like what you did with the cucumbers. I like the contrast of a yogurt smear on a black plate. But all these things don’t necessarily belong together.
i think what’s missing for me here is flavor and seasoning. You could do a creamy, yogurt- based herb dressing. For crunch, you could add some kind of polonaise or toasted nuts. I might also experiment with the leafy greens and the cut you apply to them- it seems you just roughly chopped some chard, but I encourage you to get creative. A wedge of lettuce, lightly grilled, could be more cohesive in terms of flavor profile.
The salad course is the most phoned-in part of the meal, and it really doesn’t have to be. I hope you take this back to the drawing board, and don’t concern yourself over critiques that are not constructive.