Cocktail Food: 50 Finger Foods with Attitude at Chef2Chef

Suggested snacks to serve with "travel agents"--those brolly-festooned tropical drinks that instantly transport you to de eye-lind, mahn--include Figs in a Blanket, a gorgeous canvas of fresh fig and Gorgonzola brushed with balsamic and walnut oil, then wrapped in prosciutto; and 'ZA!, mini-English-muffin pizzas with Cambozola and sun-dried tomatoes.

Some recipes require minimal prep or cook time. Spear Ecstasy, asparagus with a lemon-tarragon dip, and the Caprese Skewers--made with cherry tomato, mozzarella, and basil--are simplicity itself. But working with phyllo dough, a key ingredient in Mary's Little Lambs, has driven more than one talented amateur chef to swill down the cooking sherry. And a couple of the recipes could get spendy for your little clambake: the authors launch a preemptive strike at anyone intending to substitute lumpfish in their Eggstravaganza! by calling for high-quality caviar. But perhaps a question posed on the back of the book's dust jacket says it best: "Would Holly Golightly settle for chips and dip?" Maybe Tiffany's is no longer serving breakfast, but armed with Cocktail Food, they'd lay on one heck of a happy hour. --Tony Mason

Product Review

I may have been only six, but I knew the best thing about my parents' parties was the hors d'oeuvres: cheese puffs, stuffed mushroom caps, pigs nestled doughy blankets. Twenty-six years later, I'm still crazy for finger food, but scallops n' bacon and cheddar pinwheels just won't cut it anymore.

Good thing I found Cocktail Food: 50 finger foods with attitude, the latest offspring from San Francisco caterers Mary Corpening Barber and Sara Corpening Whiteford (with Lori Lyn Narlock), the twin dream team who brought us the best selling and . Smart, stylish bites from big and bold to light and delicate included the cleverly titled Vietnamese Wrapture (ground pork with hoisin, mint, and basil wrapped in rice paper), Sorry, Charlie (spicy tuna tartare on wonton squares), Leaves of Glory (Parmesan-basil aioli on artichoke leaves), and Figs in a Blanket (fresh figs with gorgonzola and prosciutto), a complete rehab of the mini hot dog classic. The recipes were easy enough for this non-chef to follow, the do-ahead suggestions kept me from slaving in the kitchen during my own soir e, and the planning tips how much booze to buy, how to balance flavors and textures transformed me into a hostess even my husband didn't recognize me. Move over, Martha.

Reader Reviews
"Cocktail Food: 50 Finger Foods with Attitude" is my third cookbook by the Corpening sisters. The other two are "Wraps" and "Smoothies," and they're every bit as good. These women have a knack for often unusual, very flavorful food with very strange names. This book includes a number of good hints for any occasion at which you wish to serve finger food. They even give figures for how many hors d'oeuvres and drinks to serve. Then you'll find directions for pairing hors d'eouvres with drinks, and a couple of "themes" for possible parties. Weird recipe names is one way in which this cookbook stands out. How could you forget a cookbook with recipes like "oink!" and "steaked and thai-ed?" Mind you, when someone asks me what those marvelous little delicacies are over there on the table, you can bet I'll be saying "oh, that's skewered thai-style steak with lime, jalapeno, and mint." Unless, of course, the questioner is either a very good friend or someone I'd like to irritate. "Bold flavors" has become a cliche. When I think of bold in relation to cooking I think of bland A-1 steak sauce ads. But when the Corpening sisters get together, bold is the most appropriate adjective I can think of. Bayou Biscuits give you the distinctive flavor of Andouille sausage. Delhi Blues is a combination of blue cheese and walnut shortbread with chutney! The Smoked Salmon Bonbons are exquisite. We like to use the tahini-ginger dipping sauce that's meant to go with shrimp and serve it with shrimp chips instead. You'll find more recipes like this throughout the book--bold, exquisite symphonies of flavor that bowl you over. However, because the flavors are so strong, a few of them are almost bound to be ones you find unpleasant. No matter how they dress it up, I'll never do more than shrug over shrimp, and no one will ever convince me to eat a dish with onion as a main ingredient. For you it might be the radishes, or maybe the aforementioned blue cheese. This book is certainly worth a buy, though, regardless of whether you like cocktail parties. It may only contain 50 recipes, but they're recipes that pack a lot of punch!