Recipes with Julie Van Rosendaal: Make your own patio grub

Patio season is upon us, and while flocking to them isn't an option right now, we can still dine al fresco — on our own patios, with our housemates or close cohorts, or well spread out in the yard or park, ensuring we follow safety guidelines.

If you're at home, maybe try something different, that you might typically order on a patio — an enormous platter of nachos, or fish and chips.

Or take a folding chair somewhere spacious and pack some snacks: perhaps some cheese and charcuterie, focaccia and whipped ricotta, marinated olives, and that molasses-y caramel corn they make at Dandy that's so good.

It's essentially a picnic, but think of it as a portable patio to go.

Dandy-style Molasses-y Caramel Corn

Dandy has always had a fantastic menu in its tasting room, but one of my favourite things over the years has been its molasses-heavy caramel corn. They shared their large-scale recipe, and I used it as guidance to tweak my usual baked caramel corn. If you're not a fan of the molasses-y kind, use more syrup or honey for more traditional caramel corn.

• 8-10 cups popped popcorn (about 1/3 cup unpopped kernels)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• ¼ cup corn syrup, Rogers Golden syrup or honey
• ¼ cup molasses (or more corn syrup or Rogers Golden syrup)
• ¼ cup butter
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ¼-½ cup pecan pieces and/or pumpkin seeds (optional)

Preheat the oven to 250 F and put the popcorn in a big bowl (which has been sprayed with nonstick spray, if you like, to make cleanup easier). In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar, corn syrup, molasses butter, molasses and salt and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and boil without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally, for 3-4 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla — it will foam up. Quickly pour over the popcorn and stir with a heatproof spatula or tongs to coat the popcorn well.

Spread out onto a large rimmed parchment-lined baking sheet, sprinkle with the pecan pieces and/or pumpkin seeds (if you like) and bake for 30 minutes, stirring once or twice. Cool and break apart.

Serves: 8-10.

Focaccia

This simple dough can be used for pizza or focaccia, and can hang out all day on the countertop. If you want to slow the rise, or save it for the next day, tuck it into the fridge overnight (you can even freeze it for longer storage). This dough is also perfect for rolling out and tossing on the grill — as a base for pizza, or just as its own charred flatbread.

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Whipped ricotta is a simple accompaniment: simply whip as much ricotta as you like in the food processor (though some people use hand beaters) until it's light and smooth. If your ricotta is dry, you may need a splash of cream or olive oil to help it along.

Spread it into a shallow dish and drizzle with olive oil. If you like, add some za'atar to the olive oil, or some finely chopped rosemary, or a bit of lemon zest.

Sprinkle with flaky salt and freshly ground black pepper.

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tsp active dry or instant yeast
• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 2-4 tbsp olive or canola oil, plus extra for cooking
• 1 tsp salt flaky salt, to finish

Put the warm water in a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast over and let sit until it dissolves. If you're worried it might be inactive, let it sit for 10 minutes, until it gets foamy. If it doesn't, you may need fresh yeast.

Add the flour, oil (feel free to eyeball this, you don't need to be precise) and salt and stir (or use the dough hook on your stand mixer), until the dough comes together. Then knead for a few minutes, until smooth and elastic.

It will be very tackt. If it's far too sticky to work with, add a bit more flour, but it will smooth out as it sits.

Shape the dough into a ball, if you like, return it to the bowl, drizzle with oil and turn to coat it all over. Cover with a tea towel or plate and let sit on the counter for at least an hour and up to several hours, punching it down now and then.

When you're ready to bake, generously oil a 9x13-inch pan. Flatten the dough into the bottom, then flip it over so that it's coated with oil and press until it covers the entire bottom of the pan.

Press your fingers deep into the dough, straight through to the bottom, to create deep dimples. Cover and let it sit for another hour, preheating your oven to 425 F toward the end.

If you like, drizzle the dough with a bit more oil, and sprinkle with flaky salt.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until deep golden. Turn out onto a cutting board to slice.

Serves: About 12.

Beer Battered Fish & Chips

If you're into ordering fried things on the patio, give it a try at home. Fish and chips is something I virtually always order and eat outside, though usually it's an outdoor eating area somewhere on the West Coast. It's a satisfying dinner you can attempt at home that may be outside your usual comfort zone.

If you can find a bag of Billingsgate batter mix, pick up some. I's delicious! If not, seasoned flour and beer will create that classic beer battered fish you love. To make your own tartar sauce, stir finely chopped pickles and/or capers and a squeeze of lemon into a small dish of mayo.

At this time last year, we talked about how to make your own restaurant-style fries at home on the Calgary Eyeopener, using a method I learned years ago in Cooks' Illustrated.

You start with cut potatoes and oil straight from the bottle, and bring everything up to temperature at once. The potatoes cook through as the oil heats, and then crisp up when it gets hot, mimicking the twice-cooked method that typically ensures the potatoes are cooked through and fluffy on the inside, crisp on the outside, like fries you might get at a restaurant.

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt (plus extra, for later)
• 1 cup cold beer (nothing too dark, or use bubbly water)
• 1½ lb cod or haddock filets, cut lengthwise into 2-3 pieces

Put ½ cup of the flour into a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, stir together the remaining cup of flour, the cornstarch, baking powder and salt, then whisk in the beer.

In a shallow, heavy pot, heat a couple inches of oil until it's hot enough that a scrap of bread sizzles when you dip it in. If you have a thermometer, it should register 350-375 F.

Pat your fish dry with paper towels and dredge in the flour, shaking off the excess. Coat a few pieces at a time in the batter and then gently lower into the oil. Cook, turning as needed, for 4-5 minutes, until deep golden and cooked through.

Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain, sprinkling with salt while it's still warm.

Serves: 4.