Mark me

THE DINNER- party planner will be forgiven – at least by this dinner-party planner – for spending so much time fretting about main courses and soups and salads and the dessert and which wine goes with what, that the matter of the opening nibble gets neglected. There is a sinking familiarity to the sense that, yes, people will start showing up in five minutes and everything is in order – except there is nothing for them to nosh on, really, in that crucial half-hour or 45 minutes of chat and cava-sipping while the cook applies the finishing touches to those dishes that had the grace of being planned. Sometimes, in desperation, a bowl of olives is rushed out, or perhaps there might be some cheeses and crackers, hurriedly liberated from their cellophane packaging. These offerings are better than nothing, but not better enough to assuage the dinner planner's shame at having launched an evening of festivity so slip-shoddily.

Although Mark Bittman's magnificent new book, The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, $29.95) is about as thorough an exegesis on home cooking as one could hope to have (More Than 1,000 International Dishes to Cook at Home, the subtitle promises), the phrase that first caught my eye was "cold appetizers requiring no cooking." Bittman (writer of the New York Times' Minimalist food column) is a worldly and sophisticated gourmand, but he is, above all, a deeply, deeply practical man, and when he describes simple, non-French sauces as being able to transform ordinary food "into interesting, wonderful, even spectacular dishes, without much work," he is evoking a prospect dear to the hearts of home cooks, who will go back into our kitchens chanting that last phrase like a mantra.

I would pass on the spicy cold celery, nonetheless. But portobello spread, a preparation for crostini that involves dicing the mushroom caps and tossing them with chopped tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, lemon juice, and olive oil, sounds tasty and can be thrown together in 10 minutes with no loss of style, so a "yes" vote there. Bean dips (including hummus) are fabulous and quick, at least if one uses canned beans.

And then there is raw meat in several guises: cubed beef tenderloin with arugula in lemon juice and olive oil, and ground lamb mixed with bulgur wheat and seasonings and shaped into balls (kofte is the Turkish word) or logs. "Raw" does present something of a psychological issue, especially as it pertains to food prepared for guests, though Bittman does remind us that pieces of whole meat obtained from a reputable source are almost certain not to carry salmonella. This means: Grind your own, and keep kitchen chat to a minimum.

Paul Reidinger

paulr@sfbg.com