| Crafting a Veggie Centerpiece |
From "DIY Crafts"
episode DIC-150 |
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Designer and author Kathleen Ziegler of Dimensional Illusions makes vegetables look delightful, even to those who have an aversion to healthy eating. Using white and cream-colored vegetables, including mushrooms, asparagus tips, endive and bok choy, Kathleen creates an elegant Easter centerpiece. Prepare the vegetables the night before, and assemble the centerpiece two hours before guests arrive. Materials:
Cauliflower
Broccoli
Bok choy
Scallions
Pearl onions
Wax beans
White peppers
White Chinese radishes
White asparagus tips
Cream-colored endive
Wooden skewers
Basket
Floral foam
Cookie cutter
Paring knife or craft knife
Green peas
Scalloped decorative-edged scissors
Vegetable slicer
Carrot
Vegetable Preparation - Cut off the roots of scallions. Slice the white bottom sections of the scallions vertically, from the green, leafy portion toward the root end, and soak them overnight in ice water. The white part of the scallion will curl back, forming a flower (figure A).
- Cut florets of cauliflower and broccoli, and push wooden skewers into the bottom to add filler to the arrangement (figure B).
- Clean the mushrooms with a soft food brush to remove any soil. Stick wooden skewers through the stems.
- Prepare white peppers by slicing off the tops and removing the seeds and veins. Using a curving motion, make vertical cuts along the outer sides of the pepper. Use a scalloped cookie cutter, and stamp out flower shapes from white peppers. Poke a wooden skewer through the center of the flower-shaped peppers. Put a green pea on the end of the skewer for the center of the flower (figure C).
- Carefully pull off the outer leaves of the bok choy from the main head. Remove the outer dark green edges from the head, leaving a slight green tint to the piece. Cut the leaves with scalloped decorative-edged scissors (the kind you might use for making scrapbooks).
- Insert wooden skewers at the bottom of the bok choy head.
- Wash and prepare bunches of endive, taking care to prevent delicate leaves from tearing. Push a wooden skewer into the bottom of each bunch.
- Remove the tip from one end of the wax beans and place each bean on a skewer.
- Create a calla lily by thinly slicing a white Chinese radish on a vegetable slicer, rolling it into a cone and placing the tip of the cone inside the top of a green onion. Insert a wooden skewer into the green onion so the radish cone rests against it. Do not insert the skewer through the radish. It should support the cone. Place the tip of a carrot inside the radish cone (figure D).
Assembly - Place floral foam in the basket. Begin assembling the bouquet by arranging skewers of cauliflower in a circular pattern in the foam. Balance the composition, leaving equal spaces between each piece (figure E).
- Place the scallions on skewers, and add them to the arrangement in a balanced manner.
- Skewer the other vegetables, and add them to the arrangement so that it is symmetrical, saving the endive until last.
- Place the endive strategically to fill in gaps and camouflage the wooden skewers (figure F).
Zucchini Butterfly DIY Crafts host Mary Lyon made a butterfly from a zucchini and bean sprouts, as shown in the book Cooking Class Garnishes Cookbook (Publications International, 1994). Score the skin of a zucchini lengthwise with a fork. Slice the zucchini in half crosswise. Cut a 1/8" crosswise slice halfway through the zucchini. Remove the knife, move it 1/8", and slice through the zucchini. Separate the wings of the butterfly joined by the halfway slice. Place two bean sprouts in the center for the body of the butterfly (figure G).
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