00:00Hi, I'm Christian from Refinery29, and today we managed to sneak into one of Martha Stewart's
00:05test kitchens.
00:06If I were an acrobat, I'd be safe from falling flat on my face.
00:13We're going to be showing you how to make an R29-approved perfect spring dinner party
00:18menu.
00:18And even if you're not Martha in the kitchen, we have the lovely Shira Bokar who is going
00:23to be taking us through the steps.
00:25She's the deputy food editor at Whole Living magazine, and she's promising us that it's
00:31going to be easy.
00:33This won't hurt a bit.
00:34What's first?
00:35So we're going to make this delicious muddled lemon, mint, and ginger drink.
00:40So since you're in an apron, I'm going to put you to work.
00:42I'm going to have you muddle some ginger.
00:44So we're going to do about an inch of ginger per drink.
00:47We're going to have mint, a little bit of honey.
00:50Now we're going to take lemon.
00:52And, you know, with lemons, if you're doing peels for cocktails or anything else, I like
00:57to go organic.
00:58It also looks very pretty, too.
01:00It's so fresh.
01:00I mean, you can smell this, right?
01:01So you're just going to work in a downward motion.
01:07Just until you get all the juices and all the essential oils out of the mint.
01:10You're going to kind of crush up the ginger a little bit.
01:12We're going to add just a little bit of water.
01:16Just a couple ounces each.
01:18Some bourbon.
01:19So we're going to add about an ounce, you know, more to taste.
01:22Some ice.
01:23Maybe, would you like to garnish it with some mint?
01:26Here.
01:27Let's just take the top leaves off and that'll give it more flavor.
01:30It'll look really nice.
01:31And it's so inviting.
01:32And a little twist of lemon.
01:33I mean, this looks like you could get it out.
01:36This is a $16 drink.
01:37Cheers.
01:38Delicious.
01:39It's really good.
01:39So we have our drink and now we need our nibble.
01:42This is just really simply crackers with goat cheese and cucumbers and a little bit of
01:47red onion and dill.
01:48Super simple, but just super striking.
01:51So we're just going to take our cracker and starting with room temperature goat cheese,
01:55I think it's the secret, so that you're actually able to spread it.
01:58So then we're just going to layer on our cucumber.
02:00Okay.
02:01And now we're just going to finish with a little bit of red onion.
02:04This is the secret weapon, the finishing touch.
02:06This is flaky sea salt.
02:07This is what you get in restaurants and you say, why is it so good in a restaurant?
02:12Because they probably finished it with this.
02:14A little bit of pepper because I'm a black pepper freak.
02:18I love it.
02:19You have a problem with black pepper.
02:20I have a problem with black pepper.
02:21Oh, and dill.
02:22Don't forget the dill.
02:24So two things we discovered about Shara is one, she's addicted to black pepper.
02:29True.
02:30It's kind of scary.
02:32And two, this was simple.
02:35I mean, it was literally quick, easy, and looks like the drink.
02:40It looks like it took a lot more time than it did.
02:42It looks dynamite.
02:43And all these things are available at your grocery store.
02:45So now we're moving on to...
02:47Let's move on to our main dish, our pasta.
02:49So I don't normally eat carbs right around this season, but this looks healthy.
02:54I'm seeing green, so I'm making excuses for myself.
02:58What are we making right now?
02:59We're making pasta with whole wheat linguine and just a ton of vegetables.
03:03And it's whole wheat.
03:04And it's whole wheat.
03:04It's a bit carb-free.
03:06I'm going to throw in some asparagus because it's around right now.
03:08Some fennel and then some peppers.
03:11And the way we cook it is we're just going to stick it on these trays, drizzle it with
03:15olive oil, and broil it for just like three or four minutes.
03:18So just FYI, this is going to be the sexiest drizzle you've ever seen.
03:23I'm ready for it.
03:25It's turning you on.
03:27Okay, so we're going to put this in a preheated broiler.
03:31Let's say three minutes.
03:33Perfect.
03:35So the second tray is going to be a pound of cherry tomatoes, one red onion, just kind
03:40of sliced into wedges.
03:42I think it's really all in the wrist motion and the attitude and the eyes.
03:47I'm going to check on, while you're tossing that, I'm going to check on our first batch
03:52that went in.
03:53So we're just going to let that go for about a minute more and then we'll do this tray.
03:57And so what's going to happen is the tomatoes are just going to kind of burst on their own
04:00and they're going to make all these vegetables even more juicy.
04:05Very important, we're going to save some pasta water.
04:08So we've got all of our vegetables in our hot pasta.
04:11Now we're going to add some cheese and basil and maybe a little bit of the pasta water if
04:16we feel like we need it.
04:17And it's really just until it looks saucy.
04:20And now what we're going to do is just give it a little zhuzh, a little twirl.
04:24Sarah, how many people do you think this would serve?
04:26I'd say this would serve six with the rest of our menu.
04:28Just a little bit more cheese.
04:31Never hurt anyone.
04:33Never.
04:34And then of course you can have more on the side.
04:37And then I like to do this as just a really simple salad.
04:41This is just baby arugula.
04:43And to that I'm going to add half of a lemon.
04:47Just squeeze.
04:48And then we're going to go back to our flaky sea salt because this has that nice crunch.
04:52And this is going to pair really nice.
04:54So dinner is served.
04:57Lots of hard work by me.
04:59We can't forget dessert.
05:01We're going to make a strawberry rhubarb crisp.
05:03All we're using here are fresh strawberries, rhubarb.
05:08We're going to sweeten it with a little bit of cane sugar.
05:10And then we're going to make a really simple crumble topping with rolled oats, butter, brown
05:16sugar and flour.
05:17And you're going to see how quickly we make this.
05:19You know, these are kind of larger berries.
05:21So I'm going to halve and quarter some of them.
05:24Okay.
05:24So next we're going to add our rhubarb.
05:26I'm just cutting it into half inch pieces.
05:28So now I add this to the bowl.
05:30In we go.
05:31I'm going to have you add the sugar.
05:34This is half a cup of sugar and a little bit of salt.
05:38Because even though we're making something sweet.
05:40Salt, really?
05:40Salt just helps bring out the natural flavor.
05:42And then we're just going to pour it into a nine inch baking dish.
05:47And now we're going to work on the crisp, which couldn't be easier.
05:50We're just going to add a cup of rolled oats.
05:53Quarter cup of brown sugar.
05:54Quarter cup of flour.
05:56And then four tablespoons of melted butter.
05:58Okay, we're assembled.
06:00Now all we have to do is let it cook.
06:01So if you want to put it in the oven.
06:02I will do the honors.
06:04We've turned it down now to 375 degrees.
06:07And it's going to bake for about 40 minutes until it's bubbly.
06:10Okay, I think our crisp is ready.
06:14Yum.
06:15Let's just put it down.
06:18And that's our easy peasy dessert.
06:21It was actually really easy.
06:22And it looks like it wasn't.
06:25Ooh, that's going to be hot.
06:27Alright, we've done all of our work.
06:29And look at our beautiful feast in front of us.
06:31Thank you so much, Sarah.
06:32This was so much easier than I expected.
06:35I did all the work.
06:36You just kind of stood there.
06:37But let me tell you, it was simple.
06:39And I can do it.
06:40You can do it.
06:41Whether it's a date, a dinner party, whatever.
06:43You're going to look maybe not as good as Martha Stewart.
06:46But you know, on par.
06:48Let's eat.
06:49See you guys next time.
