+ Instead of bagel crisps, you can grill or bake Lebanese round or flat bread until crispy and golden, then break it into pieces and add them to each plate.
+ Keep your herbs fresh and ready to use by separating the leaves or sprigs and placing them in a bowl of iced water. This will not only revive your herbs but it will keep them fresh and crisp to go into your salads.
+ When buying tuna, go for fillets that have a sweet ocean smell and are sitting on ice, not in water. Cook your tuna rare or medium–rare. If you overcook it, it will be dry and flaky.
+ ‘Frenching’ – cleaning the bones of lamb cutlets – makes for great presentation when entertaining. If you don’t have time, ask your butcher to do it for you.
+ Pick small or waxy potatoes for your salad. Kipflers are ideal as they hold their shape when boiled. Desirees and pink-eyes are also very popular diced or sliced in a salad.
+ If you’re going to slice the apples in advance, keep them in a bowl of cold water with a little lemon juice to stop them going brown.
+ Make the raspberry sugar just before serving the dessert to avoid the raspberries defrosting and the mixture getting soggy.
+ Before your guests arrive, place scoops of sorbet on a metal tray lined with non-stick baking paper and put it in the freezer so it’s ready to serve after your mains.