Hors d'Oeuvres

Fresh beans make a beautiful crudité platter, but they can also be chopped and mixed together for a lovely late-summer salad, simply dressed with extra-virgin olive oil, Champagne vinegar and chopped herbs such as tarragon and chives.

Using buckwheat flour in these incredibly crisp and buttery crackers gives them an appealing, earthy flavor. They're delightful with lemony crème fraîche and an assortment of smoked fish.

James Holmes grew up in Texas but didn't learn how to make pickled shrimp, a Gulf specialty, until he took a job at a New York City restaurant.

Gustav Klimt and strudel are two icons in chef Kurt Gutenbrunner and food writer Jane Sigal's Neue Cuisine.

Chef Sergi Millet cooks homey, regional food like romesco sauce, a slightly smoky puree of roasted red peppers, garlic and almonds. The versatile sauce is often served with fish or vegetables, but here Millet spreads it on rounds of soft homemade flat bread and tops it with sautéed shrimp.

This spread is like the Hungarian version of baba ghanoush. Sarah Copeland loves it on bread with thinly sliced raw red onions.

Pinch Food Design chef Bob Spiegel loves to rethink classic combinations, like this architectural take on blini and caviar. This recipe makes more blini than you'll need, but extras are great with smoked salmon.

Thomas Keller's salmon cornets (tuiles shaped into tiny cones and topped with crème fraîche and fresh salmon) are a famous kickoff to his luxe and whimsical meals. Shaping the tuiles into cones is tricky and involves working very quickly with a cornet mold. Instead, leave the tuiles flat, like crackers. Top them with store-bought smoked salmon and crème fraîche.

Octopus can be tough, but it becomes amazingly tender when it’s cooked for a long time. It's quite delicious in Jose Enrique's addictive pastries.

Vinny Dotolo found inspiration for this elegant dish by thinking about New Year's Eve classics. Both Champagne and caviar flavor the butter sauce that he spoons over seared scallops set on mini potato pancakes.

Chef Tip: To make the crust flaky, keep the butter and dough cold.

Goat's-milk cheeses are typically lower in cholesterol, calories and fat—and higher in calcium—than cow's-milk ones. Here, creamy chèvre is stuffed into antioxidant-rich mushrooms and topped with crispy herbed bread crumbs.

Michael Chiarello cooks these asparagus twice: The first time early in the grilling session; the second time right before serving, after they’re wrapped in prosciutto.

Called oladyi or blinchiki (the diminutive of blini), these mini blini get their nutty flavor from buckwheat flour. They require no rising; Anya von Bremzen’s mother, Larisa, uses this recipe to make a big batch quickly.

These bite-size ham-and-cheese sandwiches are miniature versions of the Croque Meurice that Michelin three-star chef Yannick Alléno serves exclusively at Le Meurice hotel's chic Bar 228.

Strips of prosciutto top each toast and are topped in turn with a mound of creamy white beans and sprinkling of crisp red onion.

This fast cheese spread takes only 15 minutes to make.

Chopped red, green and orange tomatoes are tossed with olive oil and herbs, then served on Parmesan tuiles. The result: a supremely colorful, incredibly easy hors d'oeuvre.

These lush sliders are miniature takes on classic New England lobster rolls.