Cheat’s cuisine

• Add garnishes - showering your dishes with fresh herbs is the simplest way to suggest freshness, but you could also use edible flowers, finely sliced olives or cornichons (pickled baby cucumbers), toasted almonds or pine nuts, to name but a few.
• Rather than just grating on some Parmesan cheese, use a vegetable peeler to shave off thin slices, which you can then arrange on top of your packet pasta or salad.
• Try serving fresh soups with a swirl of single cream poured in each serving
• Pep up shop-bought houmus by drizzling over some olive oil and sprinkling on a little smoked paprika; drop an olive on top for added glamour.
• Make magnificent salads by mixing a bag of leaves with unusual ingredients - try chopped sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, croutons, sliced chorizo, crispy bacon, shavings of Parmesan or even boiled quails' eggs.
• When serving French baguette bread, don't just cut straight across: cut long diagonal slices
• Whichever bread you serve, warm it in the oven for that home-baked touch.
• Dust some pieces of fruit in icing sugar for an instant dessert.
• If you haven't had time to chill the wine or beer, place the glasses in the freezer - you'll also get a nice frosty effect.
• And if all else fails, serve your cheat's cuisine dinner by candlelight - the flickering dimness just might hide the flaws in your 'cooking'.

Over the page: The cheat's dinner party menu