Picnic Food | Basics with Babish

- This episode was made in collaboration with YETI. For more information on YETI products, head to the link in the description. (calm music) Okay, so any respectable

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should have at least two dishes made with mayonnaise, and mayonnaise is always better if you make it yourself. So, we combined two large eggs, the juice of half a lemon, about two tablespoons, a teaspoon of Dijon mustard, and a strong pinch of kosher salt in a large blender, larger than the head of our immersion blender. We'll blend them until combined and then slowly pour two cups of neutral oil, like vegetable or canola oil, down the side so that it sits on top of the egg in a distinct layer.

This will help us emulsify it until we obtain a thick and creamy mayonnaise. Now we're going to plunge our immersion blender into the depths of the mixture and blend at high speed, moving the immersion blender up and down slowly incorporating the oil until you have a big old jar of mayonnaise so good you'll want to lick it like If it were an ice cream cone. Sort of, maybe if you're me. Even if you don't eat it alone, it will make an amazing base for several dishes, the first of which is pasta salad. My favorite pasta salad uses orecchiette which we boil in heavily salted water until al dente, drain and rinse with cold water.

Meanwhile, we have several vegetable accompaniments, some finely chopped Peppadew peppers, four large peeled and chopped carrots, a finely chopped rib of celery, the leaves and whites of two chives and about two tablespoons of chopped fresh dill and parsley. . We'll collect all of that and put it in a big old bowl and make some kind of dressing with it before adding the pasta. Half a cup of our homemade mayonnaise, a quarter cup of sour cream which I think adds a nice sour cream flavor, two teaspoons of Dijon mustard, half a teaspoon of garlic powder, and of course kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Let's take our pasta that has cooled completely because we rinsed it with cold water, remember? Make sure it is well drained, add it to our dressing and mix until well combined. This will result in a crisp, light and flavorful pasta salad that is not swimming in mayonnaise and can be made ahead, covered and refrigerated and is arguably best once the flavors have been allowed to get to know each other. Next, some deviled eggs. First, we need some hard-boiled eggs, which we are going to achieve by placing eight large eggs in an empty pot. Let's double check.

One two three four five six seven eight. There are eight eggs that we will cook like potatoes. So we'll cover them with cold water, bring everything to a boil, turn off the heat as soon as it boils, cover and let it sit for 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, these guys are ready for an ice bath. This will prevent the eggs from cooking and cool them enough to peel them with our delicate human hands. Once they have cooled for about 10 minutes, we will take them to the sink where we will peel them under running water. Once peeled, we are ready to cut them in half and skewer them.

So just cut them in half lengthwise and once they've all been halved we need to start scooping out the yolks into a separate bowl. On this rock we will build our stuffed egg filling. To the yolks we add a quarter cup of our homemade mayonnaise, a teaspoon and a half of Dijon mustard. This mustard is surely getting a lot of mileage today. A few drops of hot sauce and a little bit of smoked paprika or about a quarter teaspoon and then use a small whisk or, if you're foregoing the small whisk, a fork, we want to get as smooth a mixture as possible and season generously. and from the beginning with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

I find that a fork works best initially and then go back to using a small whisk when it's time to smooth it out and then for a perfect

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I like to keep the filling and egg whites separate and opt to fill them in place so they don't I don't have disgusting, squashed deviled eggs. Store them in an airtight container and in the refrigerator until ready to use, and just to maximize the potential for bad breath, I like to serve deviled eggs with pickled onions. So, in a small saucepan, we combine a cup of vinegar, half a cup of water, a teaspoon of kosher salt, and three tablespoons of sugar, whisk lightly and bring to a boil, then cut a large red onion in half and slice it. into thin half rings and then stuff these onions into a perfect heat-resistant travel container, like a mason jar.

Really get them in there. Take the boiling pickling liquid and pour it over the top, let it cool completely, refrigerate it even and you'll have some quick pickled onions. Just make sure this picnic isn't a first date. Otherwise, it could also be a last date. Next, the main course, a huge muffuletta that calls for a delicious olive salad. So, in a small

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processor, we combine a quarter cup of parsley leaves and roasted red peppers, three quarters of a cup of mixed pitted olives, half a cup of giardiniera, which is a pickled Italian vegetable mix, a tablespoon of capers drained. liquid and one or two cloves of fresh minced garlic.

This is just to make the

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processor's life a little easier. Cover and pulse repeatedly until it's a spreadable, almost sauce-like mixture and the secret ingredient to the world's best sandwich. This can be made ahead, covered, and refrigerated until ready to assemble, which we are ready to do now. We have a big loaf of ciabatta. It's definitely not traditional for a muffuletta, but it's the closest equivalent you'll be able to get in your supermarket and we're going to cut it in half very, very carefully. Come on, Andy, we only have one chance. It's not bad and starts to layer with many, many, many, many meats.

Soppressata, salami, capicola and my favorite mortadella and then an equal amount of two different types of cheese, provolone and swiss, and then we piled this guy high and proud with every bite of our olive salad. Spread it nice and evenly and before making the sandwich, we'll treat the top half of the bread with a couple of shots of red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil and a few shakes of oregano in case this sandwich wasn't quite enough. tasty nor dirty. Fill it, flatten it and there you have it, a not-so-traditional but oh-so-delicious muffuletta. This type can be divided into fourths, eighths, 16ths, depending on how much you value your health, and is home to the largest cross section this side of the Mississippi Delta.

You might even want to consider making this a shooter sandwich or one of those sandwiches that you weigh overnight because it's pretty difficult to wrap in paper, but eventually, we'll give up and wrap it as best we can and prepare it for our picnic. We have prepared a lot of heavy and salty dishes. Now we need something lighter and sweeter. I propose what I call watermelon mojito salad. Cut, remove the peel and chop a whole watermelon without seeds into small cubes, add a quarter cup of chopped fresh mint to taste, then we will add the juice squeezed from three fresh limes and then, if you feel bad, a quarter cup of dark rum or aged tequila.

Sure, that's not a lot of alcohol, but we'll pretend it's our naughty little secret. Throw everyone out together. Add a pinch of kosher salt if that's what you like and prepare for the easiest, most refreshing, and tastiest side dish you've ever had. Speaking of refreshing, we need a drink and since we have some mint left over, we'll chop up a bunch of mint and slice a couple inches of fresh ginger that we'll use to make a mint-ginger simple syrup. In a medium saucepan, combine one and a half cups of sugar with one cup of water, beat lightly until dissolved, and bring to a simmer.

As soon as it reaches a simmer, turn off the heat and pour in the fresh stuff that we will let sit in the syrup until it cools completely about an hour. Cover it and set it aside because it's time we start squeezing lemons. Go ahead and rap your knuckles because we're going to squeeze in a cup and a half of freshly squeezed lemon juice. Once that's done, we're going to go ahead and strain our mint-ginger simple syrup and, in a large food-safe bowl, we're going to combine it with our cup and a half of freshly squeezed lemon juice, five to six cups of water, depending on how . strong that you like and just a little bit of our simple syrup.

We don't want an overly sweet lemonade, so keep adding and tasting and adding and tasting until you've decided, you know what? I'm a sweet, sweet lemonade guy, I'm going to add all the simple syrup. Whisk until fully combined and transfer to a travel-safe, airtight container, like a glass jar, then all that's left to do is pack everything up and take it to your local park, preferably in a durable, spill-proof container. leaks. -Insulated cooler like this one from YETI. I hope that as the weather gets warmer, you try it yourselves and dine outside, even if you're like me and do it in your backyard.

I think at this point we could all use a change of scenery. I hope wherever you are it's warmer than here when we filmed this episode and I hope you all get to enjoy a colorful and tasty picnic with someone you love. (quiet music)