Putting a little care into how you plate your meal will turn a fine meal into a truly memorable one.
Keep it simple. You don't need to get extravagant to plate food beautifully. And you don't need to push your ingredients to extremes. Just use the ingredients as you planned to prepare them, arrange them harmoniously and you can create a perfect plate.
Avoid symmetry. Aim for a design that doesn't have to be perfect. Don't try to put things right in the center of the plate – put them off-center. Don't aim for any perfect shapes (circle, rectangle, pyramid), but think of it like an abstract painting, full of free-form shapes that complement each other.
Don't fill the plate. It's important to remember that you don't have to fill a plate or bowl. White space is good – it focuses the eye on the spot where the color is and acts as a sort of garnish of its own.
To garnish or not to garnish? Most plates don't require a garnish. Don't feel like you have to drop a piece of raw kale or a sprig of parsley on every plate just because that's what they do at the local steak house. A garnish, if you use one at all, should be a part of the meal itself – an ingredient or a complement.
Color coordinate. Just as with clothes, both contrasting colors (orange and green) and different shades of the same color (light green and dark green) can make for interesting visual arrangements. Never sacrifice flavor for color, but if choosing a red pepper over a yellow or green pepper will make the color palette work, do it.
Get out of the flatlands. One good way to get your plates looking great is to get out of two dimensions, where everything lies flat on the plate. Instead, think 3-D: leaning, overlapping, tilting, cascading – these bring movement to the arrangement, and also subtly indicate to the guest that the various flavors are supposed to be enjoyed together, rather than in separate bites.