Practical Gourmet | Small Plates for Sharing
Edited by Laurie Stempfle (Company’s Coming Publishing Limited, 2008)
Review written by Margaret Demerson

Entertaining can be fun, but at times it can also be a challenge. Maybe you’re looking for a recipe for Creme Fraiche. Wondering about Indonesian Sweet Soy Sauce? Curious about Dukkah? The answers to these plus a variety of fantastic recipes are combined in a new prize-winning cookbook and, as it says on the cover: “Sharing never tasted so good.”

Company’s Coming Publishing and Jean Pare are well known for their best-selling line of dependable, inexpensive cookbooks that are readily found in stores throughout Canada. Small Plates for Sharing is the first of a new series from Company’s Coming called Practical Gourmet. While more sophisticated than its predecessors, these recipes provide the signature ease of preparation and reliability. It’s a great new book, so good that it  won the Gold Medal in the English Cookbook Category of the Canadian Culinary Book Awards.

Small Plates for Sharing begins at the beginning – with recipes for appetizers, hors d’oeuvres, antipasto, great little ideas to start a meal or for entertaining. Each recipe is clearly written in both metric and Imperial measure, the directions are easy to follow and ingredients are readily available in most areas. Any ingredient that might need an explanation is explained, any instructions that need further clarification are provided, and there is a Nutrient Analysis with each recipe. Ideas for recipe presentation and a variety of helpful tips are all a part of the book, and each recipe has a wonderful full-colour photo on the page opposite the recipe. It’s hard to go wrong.

Many of the recipes in Small Plates for Sharing can be prepared ahead of time to make life easier for the host. It’s divided into eight chapters, each with a descriptive name so you can choose accordingly. It begins with Beds and Pillows – a strange name for a chapter. but it relates to canape beds of bread, pastry, crepes, mushroom caps, and makes perfect sense. Little Bowls are next, and these include dips, tiny bowls of gazpacho, soup, custard or risotto, a tasty teaser at the beginning of a meal. Maverick Morsels are delicious bites of little treats like Peanut Noodle Cakes, or Margarita Chicken Lollipops.

On The Green provides tasty toppings to all sorts of leafy and vegetable greens, Chili Squid on Peas and Peppers, for instance, or Praline Pecans, Beets and Blue Cheese on Baby Greens. The photos tell the whole story and make the recipes very clear.

Rolled Up and Tucked In is self-explanatory, a chapter devoted to wrapped or filled delicacies, and is followed by Skewered, with recipes for Pork Souvlaki with Red Pepper Yogurt, or Chicken Saltimbocca Spikes, among others.

Small and Sweet is great for people who really want dessert but insist on “just a bite”. The recipes in this chapter are “petite yet powerful dessert temptations”, leading to the last of the eight chapters, Simply Sophisticated, “Ordinary foods dressed to the nines”, like Braised Hoisin Spareribs, or Strawberry Salsa with Goat Cheese and Melba Toast. And if this last dish sounds strange, the photo is mouth-watering.

There’s a Glossary at the back of Small Plates for Sharing to explain some of the terms that might need a little help, and menu suggestions to help match the flavours (and dishes) in a meal together to get maximum taste. There are some Libations to begin the book, drinks that are as colourful and tempting as the recipes. Laurie Stempfle and her team have put together a wonderful new cookbook, the photography is exquisite and, most importantly, the recipes taste great.

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Margaret Demerson is a Home Economics graduate of Mount Allison University, honours English graduate of St. Thomas University, a former Home Economics teacher, and the Food and Nutrition writer for the Fredericton Daily Gleaner for thirty years. She’s now retired and happily enjoying life in the slow lane.