Al Fresco Recipes You Need to Try | The Good Stuff with Mary Berg | Full Episode | July 9, 2025

The Good Stuff with Mary Berg | Full Episode | July 9, 2025

Andrea Buckett, Anna Olson, Alex Page and Evelyn Chick team up with Mary to make dishes perfect for al fresco summer dining. #fullepisode

0:00 Intro
2:10 A Delicious Caponata Rigatoni with Burrata for Summer
12:05 Anna Olson’s Grilled Pork Chops with Raspberry Jalapeño BBQ Glaze
20:51 Mary’s Grilled Feta and Veg Couscous Salad Recipe
31:01 Mouth-Watering Focaccia with All The Stuffings
36:52 These Strawberry Basil Shortcake Trifles Are Perfect for Your Next Picnic

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Today on an allnew episode of The Good Stuff, all hour long, it’s summer served al fresco. Andrea Buckets dishing out a capotto rietoni with ooey gooey bara. Anna Olsen is grilling up some sweet and spicy pork chops with strawberry basil shortcake trifles as a sweet treat. Then, Alex Paige is serving up a fiery stuffed fkaca. And Mary’s got feta and veg couscous salad that comes together in no time at all. Cheers to summer. It all starts right now. [Applause] Yes. Get out of here. Hello. [Applause] Hello everybody and welcome to the show. Look, summer is the season of evenings on the patio. So today we are all about dining alresco. Teaming up with me in the kitchen to help serve up dishes perfect for outdoor entertaining. Please welcome Alex Paige, Anna Olsen, Evelyn Chick, and Andrea Bucket. Hello. Oh my gosh, I’m okay. We did not call each other before, but we are given like going to an outfit party. I feel very excited about this. Okay, dining outside. Is there anything better in the summer time? My favorite place to be. Yeah, right. I know. Going outside, bringing your meal. It makes you feel like you’re on vacation, even in your own backyard, you know? Yeah. I’ve got my wasp catchers ready. Ready for anything. 100%. You plant some citroronella. Does it do anything? I’m not sure, but I’m going to say it smells good. Makes you feel better. 100%. Spending time in the sun is always a good thing, especially when there’s delicious food on the menu. So, we’re going to get right into it. You three go have a seat cuz Andrea is getting us started. Andrea, bucket, what are we starting off with? We’re going to do a pasta dish. What doesn’t it doesn’t seem like maybe obvious for summer, but we’re going to incorporate lots of different vegetables from the summer. M Chris Crisper is always full of like local seasonal vegetables. Totally. I go bananas at the farmers market. Do you? Yeah. Like too much stuff. Yeah. And I always bike there and I’m like, “This was a terrible mistake.” Yeah. The sweat. Um Yeah. But we’re going to use up all those great veg in a rietoni with capanada, bara cheese, and toasted almond. Oh, fancy. So, I love a cap a capanada because it’s it’s a Sicilian relish essentially and it uses all these great ingredients. It has that aggra dolce quality which is like sweet and sour. It’s just a perfect summer uh summer dish. Okay, perfect. Let’s get into it. Okay, so we’re going to start with the eggplant. You want one of those beautiful Italian eggplants, right? You could also use the smaller Japanese style, even have you seen the Sicilian ones? Oh, yeah. I know. They’re very cute. Based on your mood, whatever, whatever you’re feeling that day, whatever looks good. Uh we’re going to cut it up into cubes, little dice here, and we’re going to get that going with just a little bit of oil. Now, there’s olive oil in here. I like to use the olive oil for this. And typically with a capanada, the uh the eggplant will get fried separately and then add it back in. Eggplant is very like it feels not like it is, but it’s a sponge and it’s liquidy and it’ll absorb that oil. So, you want to cook it down so it gets almost um jammy. Yeah. So, I considered doing it that way, but I thought this is the summer, we want less cooking, not more. So, let’s just I mean, we got to start. Yeah, we got to start. Love it. Okay. Some other classic ingredients. We’re going in with celery, which isn’t might might not be something that you think of automatically in here, but it does add that certain quality and a little bit of herbiness. I love a good celery. Someone once told me that they didn’t actually grow up with celery in their crisper. And I thought that was such an odd thing that we all shocked. We had our celery in basically I think it was like a pickle keeper and it always stayed in water so it was crispy all the time. It’s like a like a Tupperware party thing. a class. Thanks, Mom. That was great. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so we went in with some pepper. You can use whatever color you want. A little bit of h white onion. And then we’re going to go in with one of my favorites. I have this in my crisper all the time. A zucchini. Or if you know someone who grows a zucchini, if you grow zucchini, you’re going to about to have like a thousand zucchinis. So, it’s always good to be able to use them. Drop it on the door, ring the doorbell, run away. Flowers, too. Yes. Oh, yes. 100%. I will take any vegetables you want to give me because I don’t actually garden. It’s just like I I just too much work for me for the outcome. The only um the only thing I can keep alive are food vegetable like food plants. If I can’t eat it, it’s going to die. It’s not lasting. I have herbs and uh jalapenos and like cherry tomatoes. Oh, perfect. That’s all you need. Okay. So, next we’re going to go with a tomato. We’re going to use a Roma tomato here. We like them because they’re nice and meaty and they typically have less moisture. Uh and we’re going to get rid of more moisture by doing the little thumb trick here. We’re just going to dig out those seeds. Now, let’s Yeah. I as soon Andrea bucket earlier was like, “You’re going to do this.” And I’m like, “I know exactly what we’re going to do.” Yeah. Perfect. And then we’re going to dice it. Uh we want to get as much I know we’re going to add more liquid in later, but we want to get as much moisture out of those tomatoes as possible. Especially you can do this ahead of time. You could also just put this out with some like pita chips and serve it like a little relish before dinner. Love that. But we’re going to make it and put it with pasta, of course. Perfect. I love I love the fact that we’re using aroma cuz they’re really kind of meaty tomatoes. They’re not super juicy. Um so they cook down really really nicely. Good sauce to me. They’re slippery. Hell yeah. All right. So, we’re going to add those to the pot. Now, this would typically be cooked down a little bit more here when we add the tomatoes. We’re also going to go in with some garlic. Nice. Uh you could add the garlic here at the beginning because the vegetables are so wet, it’s not going to burn and get bitter. Uh but I just like to put it in here. I like it. Yeah. I’m always putting my garlic in. The more you want to taste that punchy garlic, the later you put it into your recipe, then you get that kind of kick. Okay. So, we’re going to swap this out for something that looks like that. Oh, yeah. Okay. Um, and then we’re going to add our agra dolce components. Okay. Uh, so we’re going to go with some sugar. You can use honey if you like. About 2 tablespoons of sugar. Now, what about I I love like a little golden raisin chopped up. And that is sort of a traditional thing in a capanada. So, that would go well here. I just thought pasta and raisins. I don’t know if I was on board yet with that. You know, I’m not mad. If it’s a golden raisin, any other raisin, get out of here. And then we’re going to go in with the sour component. So, we’re going to go in with some white wine vinegar. But again, you can switch this sort of sweet and sour profile up with whatever sweet and sour items you have. Lemon juice would be great. Red wine vinegar, balsamic if you want to give it a little bit of sweetness. And then we’re going to do the sort of briny bits. So, I’ve got some olives. Uh, and you can do green olives, you can do black olives. I like Listen, I have about four jars of olives in on the go. I always always All four different kinds. Always for the martini. One always for the martini and Evelyn’s Yeah. I was like, this is why you go to Evelyn’s house cuz they’re stuck in your fridge. It’s just for a drink. Yeah. So, you can quarter their quarter them or half them. I like a good bite. You like a chunk? Yeah. I I used to I think I probably told you this before. I used to get olives in my stock. Still do get olives in my stocking Christmas. This is excellent. I like that. That is good. My sister gets pickles. I get olives. I I would like both, not going to lie. I’m going to be extra greedy. Yeah. Okay. So, then we’re going to go ahead and add those green olives in. And we’re going to add some capers. I like to keep the capers whole. M. They going to get that little pop of saltiness, brininess. Yeah. They’re just the little butt of the flower that that are pickled. Have you ever seen Okay. You can’t They don’t grow here, but if you Google If you want if you’re in for a treat, just Google what a caper looks like once it’s bloomed. They’re beautiful little flowers. They’re so cute. Yeah. Okay. Some rieton want to cook it. Do we want to do it this way or do we want to do it that way? Sorry. You know what? I was like, this is full. We’ll do one of these swaps. Okay, perfect. Doy dough. A dosey dough. Uh, you know what? You would put it into the sauce. We’re just going to do it. We’re just going to go rogue here. We’re going rogue. I feel like we don’t got a lot of room. Okay, perfect. So, we’ve got just some I like the amount of vegetable to noodle you’ve got, Andrea. Oh, that looks stunning. All right. Now, you got some pasta water if you need it. If you need pasta water, you’re going to put it in there just to loosen things up a bit. But otherwise, this baby’s done. We’re going to grab the parsley from over there as well. Okay, perfect. It’s so hot in there. This smell, the the vinegar in there, that sweet. Oh my gosh. Beautiful. This says summer to me. Now, we’re going to go in with some bara. Now, for the most part, I’m going to say it and I’m going to get a lot of hate for this. Okay, let’s do it. Andrea, I think bara is a little overrated in that. Okay, in that is that it’s like on every single menu everywhere for the last years. That is true. Though I will say I did see my friend’s dad experienced Barata for the first time last year and his mind exploded. Look at that. Stunning. Stunning. Oh, okay. So, we’re going to go in with the bara. Now, typically bara has a casing around it and it has that gorgeous ooey gooey center. Yes. We’re just going to dot pasta. You know what my favorite thing about bara is? It is mozzarella cheese around shredded up mozzarella cheese with cream. With cream. Yeah, that’s the inside is just shredded mozzarella mixed with cream and then put in more cheese. I find that center though like it’s just like cottage cheese kind of. Do not speak badly. I love I love cottage cheese. Time for cottage cheese. Yeah. Well, cottage cheese with really good olive oil drizzled on top of it. Alex Page, this is the only time you’re losing me. I do love I do love cottage cheese, but this is not cottage cheese. Um, okay. Then we’re going to garnish with the rest of the parsley. We’re going going to go on there with a little crunch cuz everything’s sort of cooked down and soft. Some toasted slivered omelets. Beautiful. Maybe a little bit of this. Little drizz. Little drizz. Oh my gosh. In real bucket. That looks stunning. Yeah, that’s it. All right. I’m very excited about this. Cannot wait to dig in. But Evelyn chick, I was ready to jump into that. Yeah, she was like, but first up, you were going to do some cocktail or drink pairings today. What do you think goes with this? So, the first one we always go, you know, what do we pair with pasta? Most people are like a little red wine. Maybe it’s a heavy white. In the summer, I love a lambus. So, it’s a sparkling red uh from the Amelia Romana region. And this has got like some vegetital qualities to it. It’s got some like acidity, kind of really bright like jammy fruit flavors. I’m just going to like pass this on. Now, for anyone who doesn’t know, it’s basically like sparkling red wine. So, it is made. Yeah. Like uh skin extracted. So, made like a red wine and then done um traditional sparkling method. So, like the yeast ferments um with your wine mash and then it’s got like a really kind of beautiful like um we drink [Applause] chopping the bit right now. But it’s great with tomatoes if you’ve ever done that and great with pasta, especially one with so much flavor. This is like grape juice for adults. It is like summer time. Let me tell you, I had a bite of this. This is fantastic. That sweet, that sour, that salty with this. Get out of town. We are off to a great start party. Now, cheers everybody. Light is up next. Stick around. It’s going to be delish. tomorrow. Dreaming of the perfect patio, Steven Sabados is making wishes come true with inspiration and how you can get the look. Then it’s an organizing 101 crash course with Megan Arthur’s for every room in the house. And Mary’s making a scrumptious snackworthy treat perfect for any time of the day. That’s tomorrow. We are making recipes perfect for outdoor summer entertaining today. Uh Anna, you are up and we’re going savory with this one. I know. I am excited. What are we making? Barbecue. Of course, we’re barbecuing. I love it. I love it. These are raspberry jalapeno glazed pork chops. Oh, and I like to do a pork chop when you The one thing I actually avoid when I’m entertaining al fresco and at risk of getting distracted is chicken. Yes. Cuz undercook it. Well, that’s not a happy ending. No. No. And overcook it and you’ve got dried out chicken. I was going to say that. We’re going to treat these bone in rib and pork chops first with a marinade/ brine. Okay. That will guarantee that grilled they will stay nice and juicy. The brine really gets in there. So, even if you cook them till they are done, they’re still going to be juicy. Love that. Okay. So, to do the brine/marinade, I’ve got an onion cut up. And if you want to add, we’ve got apple juice or cider. That’s more for the liquid. Totally. Raspberry red wine vinegar, which you can find in grocery stores. Now, I want to add a little sweetness to promote um a bit of glazing. A nice little crispy bits on the outside with some brown sugar. Lots of salt. Lots of salt cuz it’s brine. Yes. That’s the thing. I was like, “This amount of salt is a good amount.” But that’s it. It It helps kind of pull out moisture and put moisture in. That’s exactly it. Osmosis happens. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. Jalapeno pickle juice. We’re going to use the pickled jalapenos in the glaze. Okay. We love this. Okay. Let’s work with that. I never throw away the jalapeno pickle juice. We use it in everything. Aaron, my husband is constantly like, “Can we throw out this empty jar?” I’m like, “That’s not empty.” No. In um a bit of clove, or you can use whole clove, and some coriander. Oh, I love this. just to keep people guessing a little bit. 100%. It’s a little It’s a little almost um holiday ham but summertime. Yeah. Then you drop in the chops. And this is why I like the rib chops cuz you get that little like a ribeye steak little tender bit on the outside. Beautiful. Minimum an hour, but you can do this up to a day. Okay, perfect. Flip them over now and again. And then we’ve got some already brined. Uh yes. Mhm. Okay. Before these go on the grill, first you want to preheat your grill. mediumigh heat because unlike ribs, even though this has a rib bone, these are only going to take about 15 minutes to cook. Okay. Okay. Perfect. But I’ve got this is my husband’s barbecue spice rub. Oh, okay. So, he makes the recipe is included for the rub. He makes a triple batch of this and we have it all summer long. You know, you buy the big tub of paprika. So, you save that tub and you put the spice mix back in it. I like shaky shaky. Okay. I also Wait, did did your husband not write a whole book on pork? Sure did. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. Did I kind of go to him for some tips before I shared with you? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. And so both sides gets dusted. And if we’ve got our grill pan heating, he’s starting to heat. We would have him hotter in real life. Yes. 100%. But on the barbecue, you want to make sure you cook even something that takes a quick bit of time like this to cook, you cook with the lid down. Put that heat in. That’s the thing. I think everyone thinks cuz there’s the fire there that it’s smoking hot, but if you leave it open, it actually is quite cool. So, we’ll have a little sizzle if Yeah. Perfect. It It’ll start sizzling. We’ll get there. I find the rub helps prevent it sticking. Oh, nice. So, yeah. And it’s great. And never pay big money for the spice rubs because it’s all salt and sugar and paprika. Exactly. Also, use up the stuff you already have just sitting in that spice cupboard for years. Just use that. It gets grilled. It gets a little smoky. Speaking of using what you have straining off the liquid from that brine, we’re now going to build the glaze. Okay. And so that’s got a combination. So that’s already got the flavor built into it. Smells delicious. And this is where that those spices really come into play. This is just some commercial barbecue sauce or if you have your secret recipe, but basically it’s that sweet smokiness. And we’re going to build on that by adding some raspberry jam. Remember there was that raspberry vinegar. Do you know what this is reminding me of? This is reminding me of um like party meatballs. Yeah. Do you remember party meatballs? I don’t know what party. You guys know party meatballs. They’re in a crockot. They’re in a crock pot all the time. And there’s like grape jelly chili sauce. Grape jelly. It’s awesome. New to me. Yeah. Okay. So, that sounds like fun. I was like, Anna, you’ll come on. We’ll make them. It’ll be good. Yeah. Uh the diced up jalapeno pickles. Oh, nice. From the brine. Beautiful. And the final five minutes of cooking. So really these cook you cook your chops to 145, okay, Fahrenheit. You can use your thermometer, but because of the brine, even if you want to go further, you’re okay. Glaze them with that raspberry jalapeno glaze. The last few minutes of cooking just to get the caramelization, a little bit of caramelization, and then you end up with these. There they are. Can you even Oh my gosh. And Okay, let’s plate these babies up. We’ve got our platter here. Looks absolutely stunning. Here, I’ll let you get it. This the sauce on here. You know what I love about this is that I think pork is really underused. It is underused. You can really elevate it with just a few simple tips like this. It’s as good as a steak. And this is the kind of meal you cook for people you really like because you’re not shy in front of because once you get to that rib, you’re getting a little stone on it. I love this. Okay, while Anna, you are plating this up. Evelyn, you got the perfect drink to pair with this. What are we doing? Of course, I love a good like gourmet bite and a really nice cocktail. So, with that, I actually took some of the raspberries and I’m making a whiskey raspberry smash. So, a smash is really easy. It’s really just like citrus, some sugar. In the summer, I like to throw some fruit in it. So, we’re going to go in with an ounce and a half of whiskey each drink. I’m making two. Um, and then we’re going to add um some fresh raspberries in just like a cocktail shaker here. What type of whiskey are we using? We’re using a rye whiskey. Canadian rice whiskey cuz I like that spiciness. I always find like pork with rye delicious. Um, and then we’re going to go in with an eighth of lemon wedges. And we’re going to keep the rind on it because I like some kind of bittersweet elements to it. And we’re just going to muddle that up like really quickly. So all the juices come out and also all the lemon oils come out. Now, if we don’t have a muddler, what do you suggest? Honestly, just whatever you can find, a spoon, a fork, just swish it. So, we’re going to see that this is all kind of um all mixed up and you’re kind of infusing the whiskey a little bit too, right? Beautiful. Um we’re going to throw this on the side and we’re going to add some smoked maple syrup to it. Pork and maple syrup. Excellent combination. So, I just did some applewood smoke um on a maple syrup. If you’re lazy, honestly, a little bit of liquid smoke works perfect. We’re going to add half an ounce each and we’re going to um throw it over some ice and give it a shake. So, we’re just going to integrate everything there. The white shirt and the cocktail is a bold move. Patio party is all about confidence. You got to throw it in there. So, next we’re going to do a dirty dump. It’s a party. So, we’re just going to like literally throw it back into the cup. Oh, I love this. Yeah. Any cup that you have. It’s really colorful. And you get all the bits of raspberries as well. You know, chunky barbecue sauce, chunky cocktail. Oh my gosh. So, this is what it’s going to look like. That’s what a smash is. And you can even make it in a mason jar and just like keep it in there. as a vessel. Absolutely stunning. Anna, I’m going to pass you one. She’s about to go to that other pork chop doing her thing. Anna, this looks absolutely stunning. Cheers, Anna. Cheers over there. Man in the barbecue. We got amazing pork chops when we come back. So, stick around. We’ll be right back. Want to be on the good stuff? Yeah. Amazing. Whether you’re ready for a brand new look, oh my gosh, a refresh in your living space, oh my god. Need help with a special event, or want to show off your skills in the kitchen? All right, let’s go. Simply scan the QR code below and apply to be on the show. [Music] What a break. Anna made her a delicious grilled pork chops that were so stunning. Like out of control. And then that raspberry smash. Yes. Like gosh, get out of town. But since the grill’s all heated up, I thought it would make a delicious kind of summer veg salad. Not dissimilar. I’m not going to lie to Andrea. This is one of those. We’re going to use some zucchini, the hero of the day, other vegetables. But we’re going to do a grilled couscous salad with grilled feta cheese. Yeah, this is the thing. Anytime I say grilled cheese, you picture a sandwich. But no, no, we’re not even doing halumi. We are going to grill feta. Super tasty, really good. A little bit of smokiness, a little bit of ooziness. Super. But the first thing we need to do is get to work on our couscous. Now, Evelyn Chick, you have never cooked in this kitchen before. So I’m so excited. So I figured I was like, “You’ve been to a number of these.” So I was like, “Let’s get you cooking.” Thank you. I do cook at home. You do cook at home. So she knows what she’s up to. Okay. So we’re going to start off with couscous. Have you made couscous before? Super easy. So easy. It’s the dream. It’s the dream grain. It takes 2 seconds to make. So basically, you want to use equal parts couscous to liquid. So we’ve got couscous here. Would you add two cups into this bowl? Into this one. Actually, that’s right. Okay, great. I don’t I’m going I don’t even nicely done. All right. And into there, I like to season my couscous up. Um, you can just use salt and pepper and things like that. But one of my favorite little seasoning hacks is boolean. Boolean powder or boolean paste, whatever you like. This has so much flavor in it. Super salty. So, you don’t even need to add any seasoning additional. Oh, where’s this? My dad used to just drink cups of bullion like at night instead of you make like a bullion drink. I love it. I’m not going to lie, that’s a lot of salt, but I do like that energy. Um, it’s but it’s really great. Maybe you’re having a little bit of a cold or something. Whip that up. It’s again so much flavor that on a little bit of vegetable. Super super tasty. I agree. Okay, perfect. So, I’ve got about two teaspoons of that boolean in there. It’s also way uh smaller than getting all those tetra packs that definitely go bad in your fridge. Um, and into there, we’re going to go in with two cups of boiling water. So, I’ve got that water already boiling. Pop that in. Give it a stir. And then I just need you to cover it with that plate just to let it steam. Okay, perfect. So, while Evelyn is doing that, I’m going to get to work on the vegetables. Now, we’re keeping these pretty easy breezy. You can use really any sort of vegetable you want. I’m doing the classic kind of grilled vegetable sandwich medley. So, right, the zucchini. We’ve got a couple different colors, some onion, a little bit of bell pepper. Onto there, I’m just going to go on with a little bit of olive oil just to kind of get it nice and coated and get it a little bit moving and grooving. I’m going to season that up with a little bit of salt and pepper. Nice. Awesome. Salt and pepper. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. And then I’ve got um the grill heated. If you’re doing this outside, a grill heat uh preheated to medium high just like uh Anna’s beautiful pork chops is perfect for these vegetables. But we’ve got a grill pan on today. So, would you mind popping those on? Yes, I am the grill master of the house. Oh, shoot. Do you know who the grill master is at my house? Weirdly, my mom, Myra Berg, is an amazing griller. She always has been, always will be. She’s a real stone cold stunner at it. All right. So, pop those in and just let them get nice and charred. Those vegetables take anywhere from like six to 10 minutes just to get that nice charark and get soft and jammy. So, while you’re doing that, I’m going to get to work on that feta. So, as opposed to just putting the feta straight onto the grill, which you can do if you’re using a drier feta, I’m actually going to do it on a little bit of foil. That’s going to just ensure that it doesn’t melt through, it doesn’t crumble through. You’re going to get all that cheese in your belly and not in the bottom grates of your barbecue. Um, but I’ve got a little piece of foil here and I’m going to use the dull side. The dull side is a little bit more non-stick than the shiny side. So, I’ve just got a little block of feta here. You can do as much or as little as you want. We’re going to do I think the whole chunk. I’m just going to pop that on. Add on a little bit of lemon juice right on top. No need to season this obviously cuz that’s good and salty. Yeah, salty already. Um, so that’s doing its thing. Then we’re going to go on with a sprig. Just one little sprig of some oregano. That’s going to perfume everything. Super tasty. Little bit of oil drizzled on top. And then you just want to make This is what I do sometimes when I’m reheating things. I make a fake pan out of aluminum foil. Yeah. Like I do one of these. Smart. And then I’m like, there you go. Don’t have to do any cleaning. I love it. All right. Would you pop that on the grill as well? So that only needs about I’d say 4ish minutes just to grill up. It’s going to get a little smoky. Just like Anna said. Close the lid and all that smoke is going to just infuse into that cheese. for a little bit more juiciness. You are a really good griller. I’m just watching everybody. Got those grill lines. You know, those grill lines, you got it going. I’ve also got some tomatoes here. Just a couple little tomatoes. Again, I’m going to add a little bit of oil onto here just to get them going. And the tomatoes take about the same uh time as that feta. So, pop those on for me. Onto whichever grill they’ll sit on. Straight on the grill. Yeah, straight on the grill. And I like doing them on the vine. That way they don’t roll around. They stay on there and they don’t get too mushy. They don’t get too mushy and they stay nice and together but a little saucy, which is a dream. So, while you’re grilling those, Evelyn, I’m gonna get to work on the dressing for this beautiful salad. So, into my bowl, I’m going to go in with two cloves of garlic that I’ve minced up. Then, I’m going to go in with the juice. And if you want, you can also do the zest of a lemon and a half. I’m really putting a lot of seeds in. We’re playing kitchen roulette today. I was going to say, no, you’re like the bitterness. It’s supposed to be there. It’s very good. Um, texture. Texture. It’s a dirty dumpl calling it back. I love this energy. All right, I’m going to add that lemon juice in. Evelyn, would you mind pouring in about I’d say four tablespoons of olive oil into here? Absolutely. Now, if you wanted to, you could easily add in a little bit of Dijon mustard in here. I love it. Right. Super tasty. And then into there, we’re going to go in with some herbs as well. So, we’ve got that oregano on the feta. While I’m doing this, Evelyn, do you mind grabbing those swapped vegetables from the back counter? I’ve got a few little sprigs of oregano here. Now, oregano is a lot stronger than other fine herbs. I’m new on the oregano train. People don’t use it a lot, especially the fresh oregano. I find they don’t use it. I love oregano, though. Oh, it kind of used to give me perfume vibes. It’s medicinal for sure. Yeah, but now I’m on board, so don’t worry. It’s very good. All right, so I’ve got some oregano. I’ve got some beautiful fresh mint. Dill in here as well would be great. Teragon would be beautiful. I love layering mint with other herbs. Instead of standalone, it can be a bit too much. With other herbs, it’s beautiful. It really is. And I find in the summer time, the more herbs I can get into my salad, the less lettuce I have to use. And herbs are Herbs are usually cheaper, which is always a good thing. And more superior. Exactly. All right. I’m going to go in with those herbs. Would you toss those vegetables in as well? Absolutely. Perfect. This is like an bucket method where it’s just mostly vegetables. Dump them all in. Yes. Beautiful. Beautiful. I’ve also got those beautiful grilled tomatoes that are super nice and saucy. So, I give them a little bit of a rough chop just to get that juiciness kind of flowing. Super tasty. This feel okay. This feels Does anybody ever cook anything and sometimes feel like Jamie Oliver cuz you’re doing something kind of chaotic? Like chopping a thing. Like cutting things on a board that’s saucy always feels very Jamie Oliver to me. All right, we’re going to add that in. And would you mind fluffing that couscous? Absolutely. Now, when you make couscous, it’s already done. That’s perfect. It is done. It’s looking beautiful. When you make couscous, you want to give it a little bit of a fluff just to make it so it doesn’t all stick together and clump. I like to use a fork like Evelyn’s doing. Um, but that’s all you need to do. Do you want to pop that into here, too, once you got it all fluffed? Okay. This is fun. It’s like pasta salad almost. It’s very pasta salad, essentially. So, do you prefer to serve this warm room temp? I think always, to be honest, this is one you can make ahead super super easily, but you just get it nice and tossed together. It’s great as leftovers, but it’s stunning with all those herbs. Now, you cannot forget about that beautiful feta. So, we’re going to pop this onto our serving platter. That looks gorgeous. Looking stunning. Uh, spilling it everywhere as for us. And then we’ve got that beautiful grilled feta that just kind of oozes out. It gets a little bit crispy on the bottom. Just peel it off of that. And then if you really want a little bit and you are in for a treat. All right, Emily. I’m excited to eat this. But you’ve got a little cocktail to go with this. I do. Okay. What do we go with? We went with something super vegetital. So, go with uh the, you know, summer fresh elements to it. I made a twist on a ginonic called the snap sisters. Oh, okay. I like this. We snap it up real nice. Snap it up real quick. I like this. So, very simple, three ingredients you can use. Uh, go in with about an ounce of gin for each gin and tonic. Snap sisters. So, do I scream summer? Um, and then we’re going to go in with a snap pee cordial. So, a cordial is just a syrup with citrus in it. So, I did some uh sugar snap peas, blended it with water in a highowered blender, added some lime juice, and then equal parts sugar. So, it was actually syrup. Yes. It’s so It smells like summer. That is so good. Because of the acidity, we’re going to go a half an ounce each in this little glasses. And then we’re just going to stir it up and add some tonic. Beautiful. It’s going to be super fresh. It’s going to have some effrovescence to it, some properties. Yes. Like this beautiful like neon green. And snap peas when you blend it up, it does stay that color um for a long time. So you can make this in huge batches. Great little patio um beverage here. You can use non-alcoholic gin or you can just do the stampy cordial and tonic. Whatever you feel like. We love this energy. Okay, let’s give this drink a little bit of a taste. I’m so excited. I’m not going to lie. I’m going to break off a piece of this uh grilled feta cuz I can’t say no to it. Cheers, everybody. We’re keeping things fresh and let’s go when we come back. Alex Paige, you’re going to make a sandwich. Keep the grill going. Keep the grill going if you can cuz you’re on your third drink and we’re making a sandwich. Let’s do it. Stick around everybody. Want more of the good stuff? For recipes, behind the scenes content, and so much more, follow us on our socials at The Good Stuff CTV. [Applause] We are at Dining Alfresco today and Alex is up with a totally delicious sandwich that is perfect for a crowd. And Alex, I’m really pumped because we are the Stripe Twins. We like lightly planned that. That was really fun. Okay, what are we making today? Okay, so for my recipe, I think the most important thing for me whenever I’m doing an alfresco dinner, I want something that’s done ahead of time. Yes. And can kind of sit out for a little while. Cuz the worst is when you have your friends over for alfresco dining, they’re all sitting in the back having Evelyn’s drinks and wine and you’re you’re in the kitchen like we’re having a great time. What’s going on there? I I want to be at the table having wine as well. Right. Me, too. Yes. So, everything ahead of time. Uh, so we’re going to start. Why not? Everyone’s grilling zucchini tonight. Let’s do it. Let’s grill a little more zucchini. So, I’ve just tossed the zucchini with olive oil, bit of salt and pepper. It sounds like a great idea. How beautiful. Look at this. We got these nice deep char marks on there. Yeah. Zucchini is so good. It gets sweeter and smoky and a little jammy. It’s so good when it cooks down. Yeah. And then what I’ve uh done, we just toss once it’s done, I toss it into a bowl, preferably the bowl that you already had your olive oil and salt and pepper and everything in. It’s just going to grab that extra flavor up. And we can, if you want to season this, and I’ll work on the pesto. Let’s do it. While it’s still hot, we go fresh chili, garlic, lemon, zest, and juice, and torn mint. Alex, this is literally my favorite combination. Zucchini, mint, chili, lemon. Oh, what a dream. Okay. Yeah. And then this, you know, this can sit uh you can do this ahead of time like the night before. Done. It’s just going to absorb flavor from the marinade. Beautiful. And so while you’re doing that pesto, cuz we are making a sandwich, we want to make it a little bit more luxurious and show that we did make a little bit of 100%. But also I every good sandwich needs like like a good house needs a mortar, needs a spread, needs something to hold it together, right? So, uh, we have almonds, just raw with the skin on. Perfect. Oh, I like that. Yeah. Sundried tomatoes in oil because then you use the oil that uh comes with, right? We are also This is the secret of this show is we are telling you how to use up stuff you’d normally throw away. Yeah. Is that what you do when your friends come over? I spoiler alert. If you come to my house, you are eating leftovers or I’m cleaning out my fridge. Yeah. Okay. Okay, we go in with our uh pomeigano. Beautiful. And then you can season this with a little bit of salt and pepper. Oh, and our basil. Oh, yeah. Don’t just tear. Just tear stem and all. Let’s do it. There you go. Love that. Pop her in. Okay, cool. Rustic. We’re cooking like Jamie Oliver. Waz it up. It’s not wazzing. Oh, it’s not wing. Oh, it’s cuz it’s on backwards. We got to w it this way. There we go. Yeah. There you go. Nicely done. That was a good one, Alex. Got uh you know, rough coarse texture. I like a little texture in mine. It’s super tasty. Oh my. So, you smell this? This smells out of control that perfume. Okay. So, let’s talk over here. What are we doing? Yeah. So, more tadella. Mhm. Italian baloney. Okay. Yeah. So, uh we actually have our friend Susie in the back. Thank you, Susie. She baked a loaf of fkatcha from scratch for us. Stunning. Stunning. Oh doggy. Okay, so we’re going to put that grilled zucchini on there with if you have some of that leftover oil, let that seep into the bread. Yes. The mint. I am a messy spiller today. Let’s be honest. It’s a patio party. It’s a patio party. Okay. Beautiful. And then we layer our mortadella. We’re going to doll up some ricotta and that pesto. Look at this. Goodness, Alex. This is beautiful. And you can, you know what? You can throw some salt and pepp on top of that ricotta as well. Season it up. Okay. The ratio is is is A+ A+ ratio. There you go. Oh my gosh. All right. And we get that beautiful pesto. Okay. Well, you are finishing this up. Alex, uh, Evelyn, what do you think for a drink with this beautiful sandwich? Okay. Listen to this. Summer is about mortadella and rosé. [Applause] We are we got to make shirts. Mortadella and rosé. So I picked a local pino noir rosé. So it’s heavily extracted. Again, the skin contact is like quite heavy. So you get these like really cool kind of strawberry leaf like these vegetable elements to it. Some tart cherry and that’s really going to like cut the cheese and the mortadella fat a little bit. It’s gonna balance it, you know, like 10 years old. You said you said cut the cheese. Cut the cheese. You are 10 years old. But this peanut rose is going to go fantastically because we were like, you know, should I do red? Is it a little bit too like rich? It’s got some tanic qualities to it. The acidity is fantastic. It’s going to go well with any mozzadella. I And look at this glorious sandwich. High five. I have told Alex Paige with this sandwich. You deserve a sip. We’re going to dig into this sandwich. I am so thrilled about this. I’m so excited. This smells dela rose summer studio audience. Just in case you’re looking for help leveling up your alfresco dining. Thanks to IKEA, you’re all getting a set of these serving plates and bowls. All right, dessert. Stick around. We’ll be right back. So good. We are back and we are topping off our beautiful summery alresco spread with one of Anna’s delicious desserts. Anna, what are we making? We are making a strawberry basil shortcake trifold. Yes, we are. I like every one of these words. Well, and I should say trifold cuz these are little individual ones. Oh, cute. And we’re going to make use of cute little mason jars. Oh, I like this. any so long as it’s a cup 250 mil any size. You just have to be able to put your spoon in it. Okay, perfect. We love this. Yeah. Um and it makes them portable, too. Now, a trifle is made up of cake, cream, and fruit typically in any combination. You could use a sponge cake. You could use lady fingers. I’m using just angel food cake. Summer staple. Yes. And especially if you take your slices. So, I’m cutting them into half inch pieces. You pop these on the grill and you get that char tastes like toasted marshmallow. What? Yes. Oh, okay. Evelyn’s. Mine just went somewhere else. That was amazing. That sounds so good. So, you can use a cookie cutter or even the lid jar to cut out your slices. So, that’s the cake element looked after. Now, we’ve got the cream. So, Mary, you’ve got softened cream cheese. It smells good already. And you can use the soft or the brick. It doesn’t matter. And I’d like you to stir in a little bit of sugar. Okay. This whole sugar. Y. Okay, perfect. And lemon juice. Mhm. Okay. Now, the lemon juice is this is like a cheesecake mousse. Okay. So, if you’ve ever had no baked cheesecake, this is what it reminds you of. Beautiful. And I’ll add a little splash of vanilla. And so, it does get a little soft, but that’s okay because the acidity from the lemon juice when you fold in the whipped cream tightens it all up. Oh, beautiful. Okay, cool. All right, I’m going to get this going. Do you need a whisk? Do we have a whisk? I feel like a You know what? I’m going to go get a whisk. You can try on that, Anna. Well, you know, I left the freezer open. Okay, cool. We got to show that busy. We’re doing this before we’re dining Alfresco, right? This is what’s happening. Cocktails also all day. There you go. Okay, perfect. Okay, so whipped up and you can still use the whisk as we add. So, this is just regular whipping cream. Nothing else added to it. Oh, I can feel it kind of tight. The it immediately starts tightening up. So, you can fit this in your piping bag. Okay. And now while you get that ready, I’m going to get the strawberries dressed. So, oh, you are super quick. You left the freezer open, but you were all set. My mind is on different things. We’re ready. Yeah. The strawberries instead of dressing them with sugar and then having them get all weepy and syrupy. Yeah. I’m going to build on the flavor with strawberry jam. I like how much jam you’re using today. It’s a jammy kind of day. Jam day. Well, you know what this is? I make jams and this is when I realized that I still have half of my inventory of last year’s jam. So, I want to use them up. Little chopped fresh basil. Basil, basil. You know what I love about that, too? The jam is going to hold it up on those strawberries as opposed to making all of those herbs fall down. Keep it nice and glossy. Now, sometimes trifle has spirits. You could throw in a little shot of orange lure or something if you wanted to. But the real finishing touch is a basil syrup. So simple syrup, equal parts sugar water with basil slowly steeped. And then you just keep that in the fridge. And then we’re going to layer brush with a little basil syrup. Oh yes. Pipe some of that cream. Oh yeah. Oh my goodness. Lots of strawberries. Keep layering. Oh, syrup. Oh, syrup. I got way too excited. Okay, we are going to keep layering these trifles into these mason jars. I’m very excited about it. But stick around because when we come back, we’re going to finish these and Evelyn’s going to make another cocktail. [Applause] Tomorrow, dreaming of the perfect patio, Steven Sabados is making wishes come true with inspiration and how you can get the look. Then it’s an organizing 101 crash course with Megan Arthur’s for every room in the house. And Mary’s making a scrumptious snackw worthy treat perfect for any time of the day. That’s tomorrow. We are back and Ann is just finishing off these absolutely stunning strawberry basil shortcake trifles. Look how cute these are. They adorable. Like out of control. Okay. So, what are we doing to finish these off? Oh, just a little basil leaf or a little spray just to remind people what’s inside. And if you’re a little less generous, these are packable for a picnic. You just put the lid on. Oh my gosh, that’s so cute. I love a jar, like a mason jar recipe. You just pop it in and you are good to go. These are so beautiful. I’m very excited. And uh they could only be made better by a little bit of a drink. Evelyn, where are we? Yeah, I’m here. So, I took um Anna’s delicious strawberries and I made a strawberry syrup out of that. Um so, it’s very easy. You pop some strawberries with water, do a 2 to1 sugar to water ratio, and we’re actually making a strawberry ice wine sour. Oh, okay. Okay. Pull the ice wine out of your cabinet that you haven’t touched in a few years cuz we’re using it for dessert. So, what I love doing with a cocktail and dessert pairing is texture and texture. So, we’re making a sour. We’re going to go in with an ounce and a half of ice wine each cocktail. And then we’re going to go in with the strawberry syrup that we made here. Um, and then it’s a rich syrup, right? It’s a rich syrup. Yes. I love texture on texture. So, it’s going to go great with a trifle. A little bit of lemon juice. And then we’re going to go in with a vegan fmer, which is just to add some texture. It doesn’t add any flavor to it. And that’s the like aquafaba from like a chickpea can. Yeah. Just in case you’re not not a dairy person. All good. So, we’re going to shake this up again. This is always very exciting. No one looks cooler shaking a cocktail than Emiline. I certainly do not. The best part of a patio party is that you can make like large batches of this and then just do the performance when people get there. I love going to go right into these beautiful cocktail glasses and it actually kind of looks like the trifle with that texture with the beautiful strawberries and layer Cabernet Franc ice wine which has some vegetital qualities to go with the basil. I’m going to give this to you. Do you know what I love about this final dish? I was going to say, oh, Alex is already I love a double cheers. Cheers to this absolutely incredible team. I am absolutely thrilled. That is our show for tonight. Thank you so much for watching. We’ll see you tomorrow for more of the good stuff. Okay, let’s go. We just met here.