Offer tostadas at a Cinco de Mayo get-together

Consider serving tostadas for a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Prepare ingredients for a few different kinds and let your guests pile on what they like. Tostadas are friendly accompaniments for a tequila tasting, especially if you use smaller tortillas. Eat between sips and help keep the effects of the liquor to a minimum. And have plenty of non-alcoholic beverages at the ready.

Cinco de Mayo (May 5) commemorates the Mexican army's victory over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, and has become a time to celebrate Mexican culture.

Meal-size tostadas may need a knife and fork, or at least a lot of napkins and a willingness to use your hands. That said, they can almost be buffet food if not overloaded with toppings.

"Tostada" is a form of the word "toast" in Spanish. In Spain, it is used to describe an actual piece of toast. Food historians have said tostadas were devised as a way to use slightly stale tortillas. Baking or frying them for the tostada base gives them a new life. Clever.

Use either flour or corn tortillas, depending on your tastes. When frying, flour tortillas puff more than corn. Use a spoon to push down bubbles after you remove tortillas from a skillet. Drain on a paper towel to blot excess oil.

To save calories and fat, bake tortillas instead. Brush both sides lightly with vegetable oil and bake at 350 for about 5 minutes, flipping halfway.

Besides the recipes included here, consider these toppings for your tostadas:

The flat taco: Spicy ground beef, shredded cheese, diced tomato and onion, chopped lettuce, avocado chunks, salsa, sour cream.

Greek-style: Melt feta cheese on the tortilla and pile with shredded rotisserie chicken, kalamata olives, chopped tomato, red onion, cucumber and tzatziki sauce or Greek yogurt and lemon juice.

Breakfast tostada: Scrambled eggs with chorizo, shredded cheese, sliced scallions and sour cream.

Shellfish crunch: Crab, avocado, fresh cilantro and a drizzle of sour cream mixed with lime juice and a few shakes of cumin.

Veggie platters: Grilled vegetables brushed with olive oil (zucchini, mushrooms, scallions, peppers) with feta or goat cheese. Add a drizzle of balsamic vinegar.

Go green: Guacamole and salsa. Enough said.

SHRIMP AND ZUCCHINI TOSTADAS

4 burrito-size flour tortillas (6-inch)

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided