How to fix an unpleasant color in a dish

How yellow were you expecting it? How much saffron did your recipe call for?

Generally, when a recipe calls for a "pinch" of saffron that can be anywhere from 15-20 stems (expensive, I know).

Saffron can take time to impart it's yellow coloring, and the depth of that yellow can vary based on the quality, age, or phase of the moon (not really). Some things you can try include:

• Soaking the saffron in hot water/stock for 20 minutes to an hour prior to adding.
• Grinding the saffron with a mortar/pestle
• Using more or a higher quality

Another thing to keep in mind is that a lot of images aren't purely saffron induced coloring. Often turmeric is used for an additional punch, or even food coloring. Here is an example of an accurate image of a saffron risotto.

Finally, your primary reason for using saffron should be for it's remarkable and unique flavor. The yellow is just a bonus. If you want more than what your batch can give you, well... cheat. :)

Try to get some verticality in your dish. Everything just laid on a plate is boring. Instead stack your meat on top of your potatoes, stand a large asparagus spear upright, put some onion straws on top of your dish. Anything that gets some differing heights to your dish will make it more visually appealing.

Use your colors. Avoid dishes that come out with nasty colors, or do something to correct them. My wife likes to select vegetables that have complimentary colors. It makes the dish look more interesting than if it is mono-tone. You can sprinkle fresh herbs over the top to add some more color and flavor.

Add some flair. You see this all the time with desserts in restaurants but can do it with thick sauces on a main dish too. Put sauce on your dish in a nice pattern and then run a tine of a fork through it at a perpendicular angle to make sharp streaks through it. Dollop a sauce in a spiral pattern in ever smaller amounts so that you get smaller circles around the edge.

Watch Grant Achatz at Alinea preparing a dessert straight on the table. If this won't inspire you, nothing will. He uses all three things I mentioned to make this interesting. Not to mention that he's doing it straight on to a silpat table cloth. And one of America's greatest chefs makes dessert for you table side, there's more than a little "presentation" in that alone. We ate there for our anniversary, and he signed a copy of his book for us, even his signature uses the circles and lines so common in dessert prep.