Paper Palate

When I check out the new book section at my local library, I gravitate toward the cookbooks.  One book caught my eye on my last visit. Great Bar Food at Home by Kate Kehoe with photographs by Alexandra Grablewski is a collection of small bites and appetizers with bold flavors that are easy to serve and prepare at home.  I am always on the look-out for unique and interesting nibbles for my happy-hour get togethers with one of my neighbors.  This cookbook provides some new recipes to try with our favorite drinks.

Kehoe is the founder and executive editor of The Global Gourmet, which is an e-zine featuring recipes, culinary reviews, cooking tips, and a gourmet store. The book was inspired by food found at the world’s most famous bars. It contains 50 recipes interspersed with stories about socializing, famous personalities, and drinking establishments throughout history. The recipes span the globe with selections like Lighter-than-Air Nori Squares and Tangerine Yakitori from Japan, Cichetti Olives and Garlic from Italy, Wild About Harry’s Croque Monsieur from France, and Tavern Beer Brats ‘n’ Onions and Beer-Bathed Shrimp from the United States.

The book, published in October of 2007, has a clean style and contains large, colorful pictures of over half the recipes. I especially enjoyed the introductory section on Pairing Food with Cocktails, Wine, and Beer. Kehoe provides the fundamentals of food and drink pairing in a straightfoward and comfortable manner. She offers her common-sense logic of striving to pair flavors that are either contrasting or complementary, letting neither the food nor beverage overwhelm the other. The main 3 sections of the book include what she calls Recipes and Lore and include Cocktail Bites and Classic Club Fare, Wine Bar and Bistro Plates, and Brewpub Nibbles and Noshes.

I tested Kehoe’s recipe for Cheaters’ Garlic Fries.  I already make a similar recipe for oven fries that does not include garlic and wanted to try her version.  I enjoyed the addition of the garlic-oil mixture that is drizzled over the roasting potatoes during the final minutes in the oven.  The fries are a welcome accompaniment to an icy glass of beer.

Great Bar Food at Home will be my new source for nibbles and noshes to serve with drinks.  The simple-to-prepare recipes, including many that can be made ahead of time, will insure that my next happy hour will be stress-free.  Friday cannot get here soon enough.