Party Tricks: Easy, Elegant Recipes for Snacking and Hosting

A celebration of snacks and apps, this stylish collection of party fare from Hezel (Tin to Table) opens with hosting tips, thoughts on ambience and decor, and a breakdown of pantry staples for entertaining (including assorted pickles, nuts, and chocolate). From pickled celery to serve as a palate cleanser (or as a garnish on a Gibson) to gooseneck barnacles with smoked paprika aioli, simple but sophisticated bites abound. More intricate affairs include a flaky, gooey French onion pie with Gruyère and fresh thyme, canned clam croquettes, and puff pastry ricotta tart topped with mushrooms, peaches, or asparagus. Recipes recur: sour cherry syrup does double duty in a cola and on an ice cream float, while shrimp butter can adorn either elegant cucumber sandwiches or simple saltines. (The latter recipe is a riff on the author’s grandmother’s shrimp mousse, one of many odes to nostalgic and sometimes kitschy eats.) Sweets include decadent plum granita with whipped cream and salted caramel and salted pistachio “magic shell” ice cream dip. Hezel shares practical wisdom throughout, including instructions on reviving limp veggies with an ice bath, rapidly chilling wine bottles in a salty slurry, and forming butter into elegant curls. Whimsical illustrations, bubbly prose, and festive photographs of tablescapes exude savoir vivre. Accessibly extravagant, this eclectic handbook is sure to elevate any host’s next soiree. (Mar.)