D Oeuvres

I am always on the lookout for new starters, and last week I developed a new hors d'oeuvre in a serendipitous way. I decided to grill lamb chops and serve them with roasted zucchini slices topped with goat cheese and a sprinkling of parsley, mint and lemon zest. But when I pulled the zucchini from the oven, I realized that they were the perfect size to be served as appetizers. These nibbles can be prepared in advance and will only need to be heated at serving time. Zucchini Croutons With Goat Cheese, Parsley and MintServes 6 to 8 1 1/2 pounds medium zucchini (3 to 4 zucchini)

Inviting friends in for drinks and hors d'oeuvres can be one of the most relaxed ways to entertain -- but not when the menu holds the host hostage in the kitchen. That won't happen if you plan simple-to-make-and-serve dishes you prepare entirely or partially ahead.If you're not serving guests dinner afterward, plan to have the hors d'oeuvres hearty and plentiful enough to cushion the effects of any alcohol you pour, and offer soft drinks or mineral water as well. Present an appealing variety of dishes, counting on four to six hors d'oeuvres per guest.

Appealing appetizers for the party seasonIf you're planning to entertain this holiday season, the just-published "Hors d'Oeuvres" (William Morrow & Co., $23) is required reading. New York magazine food writer Gillian Duffy has gathered more than 80 recipes for party tidbits from chefs and caterers. Your guests will love their curried mussels with sweet red pepper, spicy Asian chicken wings, white bean bruschetta and more. Fabulous photos let you see what these works of art should look like.

Members of two Annapolis municipal unions overwhelmingly approved new one-year contracts last night that give 2 percent pay raises to police officers and blue-collar workers.Both unions will see the increase in their paychecks starting July 1 even though the city council has yet to approve both contracts.Under their contract, police officers will contribute 1 percent less to their pensions, similar to a provision in the pact that firefighters approved earlier this week. The city will assume the 1 percent.

I think appetizers are often afterthoughts for many who entertain. Cooks concentrate on main courses and desserts and then think of what might begin a menu. But the truth is that hors d'oeuvres whet guests' appetites and often set the tone for a meal. So, whenever I have friends for dinner, I always offer some type of pre- dinner treats.In years past I thought nothing of preparing homemade pates and terrines, or baking individual savory tarts as openers, but today, like everyone else, I don't have time for such complicated creations.

Easter is coming, and if you're planning to put all of your eggs in one basket, perhaps the Easter basket, you might want to reconsider and leave a few out to enjoy in a recipe.Stuffed hard-boiled eggs, most often called deviled eggs, can be spicy, plain or very exotic.Barbara Higgins of Edgewater requested some different ways to prepare them. The responses were many, and our tester, chef Gilles Syglowski, chose a few that will offer you plain and simple old favorites as well as some unusual additions.

The Heisman Fine Arts Gallery will present a show of local art and an auction at 8 p.m. Feb. 22 at the Jessup Community Hall, Route 175 and Wigley Avenue.The auction, which will include works by Delacroix, Llewelyn, Wyeth, Borelli and Neiman, will benefit the Julia S. Stafford Memorial Scholarship Fund to provide assistance to a 1997 graduate of Meade Senior High School.Most bids will begin at $50.Admission, $8 for individuals and $15 for couples, includes wine, soda, hors d'oeuvres and door prizes.

Whether skies are cloudy or clear, the stars will shine brightly tomorrow evening at Carroll Community College's Rotary Amphitheater fund-raiser, appropriately called "A Starry Night."Nineteen local performers will offer a preview of when the performing arts amphitheater is open. Groundbreaking for the open-air facility is expected in April, college officials said.Dwight Dingle of WTTR radio will be master of ceremonies for "A Starry Night," which opens at 6: 30 p.m. inside the 1601 Washington Road campus' main building.

Prudhomme drops in at Inner HarborNoted chef Paul Prudhomme, the man who made blackened redfish a menu choice from New Orleans to Des Moines and from Ocean City to Malibu Beach, will be signing his books starting at 5 p.m. Friday at Books for Cooks, in the Light Street Pavilion of Harborplace. Prudhomme is in town to accept an honorary doctorate from the Baltimore International Culinary College. For information, call (410) 332-4191.Bigger isn't necessarily better, but a good case might be made for this: Cheez-It, the perennial snack favorite, now comes in a new size.

Maybe I'm mad, but the mere mention of meatballs makes my mind meander with memories of magical moments. A mutation of meat loaf, a midget of meats, these miniature mounds might not be majestic, but my main mission here in my monologue is to muster a memorial to the master of munchies.Make no mistake, meatballs are main magnets at merry affairs, with most of the masses munching multiples of these marvelous marbles while mingling. Meatball maniacs like myself might manage to muster a meatball museum or maybe a mammoth monument with a meatball motif, mentioning the motto, "Meatballs on every menu."