Buffet Bonanza

Hey, y'all. I am all smiles today because you know what

Got one of my favorite guys in the kitchen with me and my favorite food

Bobby Dean and a potato. First, Bobby and I are making a baked potato bar

with all the fixings. A cream seafood topping and a steak and mushroom topping

Is that not yummy? Then, Bobby is sharing his recipe for the most outrageous lime-marinated chicken wings

with an avocado dip. He's going in, y'all. He's going in. And finally, you never know what you're gonna get

with these cheesecake surprise pops. Well, I've got our potatoes washed, and I've got them dried, Bobby

because today we're gonna do, like, buffet-type food that you can serve a crowd

Do you know, I remember when y'all were young, one of the things that I'd do when I threw y'all a birthday party

I would do potato bars. Now, first, we're going to do a steak and mushroom topping

We've got us a nice top sirloin steak that we've cut in strips

and we're sauteing that off in a little oil. So you kind of watch over that, Bobby

and I'm going to get our potatoes ready for the oven, okay? Okay, I got it

All right, I'm going to use four Idaho potatoes, that I have washed and dried off

Now I'm gonna just take a fork, and I'm just gonna prick them

and that'll help the insides cook just a wee bit quicker. And all it takes is just one poke, y'all

Okay. So there we go. Now I'm gonna take our potatoes, and I'm gonna roll them in a little olive oil

Yeah. Because we're gonna salt our skins, and of course, you have to have the surfaces damp

so that the salt will stick to them. Now, Bobby is dicing up our bell peppers

because we're getting everything ready for the next topping that we're going to do

in a few minutes, and that's going to be a seafood topping. All right, so I'm just going to toss this in kosher salt

I do like using the kosher versus the table salt because it's bigger

and it doesn't evaporate onto the potato. Now, I've got my oven set at 350 degrees

and I'm going to bake these potatoes for about an hour and 15 minutes

All right, in the oven, those go. Well, I'm going to step down here and look at our steak

It's browning. It looks good. Yeah, it's brown. We've used a top sirloin

and I've got an onion here that I want to just slice up and throw in there

All right, so just strip that onion just like that. There's so many ways that you can please everybody with the same dish

You've got your meat, your vegetables. In fact, speaking of vegetables, you can even do a potato for a vegetarian

You know, you can do a broccoli and cheese topping or like grilled off eggplants and spinach

Now, we're just using a regular button mushroom, but you could take the opportunity to use any type of mushroom

You can use strips of portobello, which is very... You could do a portobello. You could do one of these with just portobello

Absolutely. And onion and cheese. Yum. I sure do love coming over here and cooking with you

Oh, gosh, son. It makes me so happy when you show up

Oh, I know it do. Or when Jamie shows up for Bubba. No, me

You. Say, leave Jamie out of this equation. And Bubba. Okay, son, we're going to just put that steak onto our platter

All right. Do you remember the day we went to Best Western

Oh, God. Our truck. I guess that's a yes. Yes, I remember every day that we were at the Best Western

Well, our truck didn't show up, our food truck, y'all. And the food truck was usually there like 8 o'clock in the morning, 9 o'clock at the latest

Excuse me, are you making a roux right now? No, I'm fixing to, yeah, kind of

I'm making a gravy or a sauce. Not a real roux. No, I'm not doing a real roux

But I'm going to add some butter to the pan, and we've got all that wonderful beef stock

Oh, yeah. So if you'll just sprinkle Bobby like a tablespoon of flour

All right, now refresh me on what happened. How did we, how did we, how were we funny that day

Oh, God. It was actually very horrible. Those are the funniest days

So the truck, I think I'd like maybe just a wee little bit more flour, Bobby

Not much. Truck didn't show up, because I'm actually having trouble remembering this

Are you? Truck didn't show up, and what happened? That's perfect. How could you forget, son

You want this yet? No, not yet. Let me kind of wet all this down

So the truck didn't show up, so we only had a limited amount of food

Did we take the day off? No we didn take the day off We spent the afternoon crying drying mama tears Now I going to add a can of extra rich beef broth y

And let this cook up. And then are you going to add all the meat and onions

back to the broth? Right. We're going to put the steak and the onions back in there

and we're going to toss in the mushrooms and if you'll excuse me just one second

I'm going to get a whisk out so I can whisk. so it was just devastating

I remember jumping all over the food purveyors. I said, what do you think you're doing

Not showing up? That's the day they learned what order they were going to make their deliveries in, wasn't it

Well, see, we were a very, very, very tiny fish in a very, very big pond

I remember one morning when I got to work. I was one opening up the restaurant. Y'all, this place, our place was..

We're going to add a little pepper, a tiny bit of salt. Our place was, it was a restaurant inside of a motel where they did a free continental breakfast

And that was kind of the breakfast business that we expected every day was the people who

to go fix their continental and then come in and sit at our tables. And have a cup of coffee. And have a cup of coffee

We were competing against free every day of our life. So I walk into work one morning to open the place up by myself

You working with that handle? Uh-huh. I'm going to turn that. Oops, got caught in my shirt that time

I walked in one morning to open the place up by myself

Because we normally didn't have any business. Normally there was nothing going on. So I walk in and throw the switch on the door

and turn around to go put on a pot of coffee for myself. And I hear the door open, and I turn around and look

and three softball teams walk in. And I'm not talking about kids. I ain't talking about little kids

I'm talking about grown big men that play softball, like, for a living in a league

I was cooking. I was taking orders. and I was filling coffee all at the same time by myself

And you know what? That's the only day that I've ever cried about our business

That was, at the time, not funny. Son, I'm so sorry. Very funny

But, yeah, you know, it's things like that that build character. Those are the things that don't kill you

Yeah, huh? All right, so we're going to cover that. Let it simmer for about 30 minutes

And we're going to take a break. And when we come back, we're going to do one of your favorite dishes, aren't we

Coming up, we're gonna be finishing our decadent toppings for the ultimate baked potato bar

God did so good when he gave us the potato. And later, my baby boy's lime-marinated chicken wings

with a fabulous avocado dip. We're doing all sorts of buffet foods

that work real, real good for a crowd. that casual dining I know that my family and I love so much

So, Bobby, we have our mushrooms, our onions, our steak. All we need now, Bobby, is about a tablespoon of Worcestershire Sun

Yep. And if you would throw in that half a cup of sour cream. All right

We're really taking this almost to like a beef stroganoff. Yeah. Now, over here in this pot, Bobby had diced up a green bell pepper and an onion

and I've sauteed it off in a little oil. and in this pot we're going to make a seafood topping to go on our potatoes

I'm going to add a half a stick of butter and then I'm going to toss in about three tablespoons of flour

All right, so here we go. Mmm, cheating. Mmm. Oh, my goodness

It's delicious. Mm-hmm. Can I help you with that? Yes, if you would grab the spoon and take over

Now I'm going to add about a cup and a half of half and half

And if you'd kind of just stir that. If you need to use a whisk, switch to a whisk

I've got one in that drawer over there. No, I have one right here, son. Here

Don't even have to dig for it. This is going to be so good

I'm adding a bell pepper and an onion. I've sauteed it off in a little oil

When you think of seafood, you think of it having just like a light little pink color to it

So I'm going to add about a teaspoon of ketchup just to give that a slight pinky cast

All right. And the next ingredient is going to be about a teaspoon of Dijon mustard

We want this to be nice and thick. And to help us get this nice and thick, we're going to toss in two cups of toasted-off breadcrumbs

I'm adding those breadcrumbs because it's going to give it body. If you'll switch to a spoon now

And I'm using one pound of lump crab meat, y'all. The last thing I want to add, Bobby, is like the juice of a half a lemon

Something about citrus and seafood. Lemon and seafood. I mean, it's always a perfect combination

See how thick that is? Mm-hmm. I've got our potatoes out of the oven

All right Bobbi look at these neat little chafing dishes that I have All I have to do is light the candles and this is just going to be perfect to hold our hot toppings So if you load up our little chafing dishes Gosh doesn that

look good, y'all? Love a potato bar. Perfect

So look at this. You just put the lids on them. Well, only for a second

Now look over here, Bobby. I've got, for those that don't like meats or seafood... Margarine

No. We got butter. And we got a nice cheddar cheese. We got chives

We've got bacon. And we've got sour cream. So everybody is going to be able to fix their potato any way they want it

Everybody is going to be able to fix their potato any way they want it. Yes. After us

After us. And look at our potatoes. I get two and you get two

Look at that. Look at the steam coming off that potato. It's cooked perfectly

It is perfect. All right, so get your potatoes, son. Well, come around here

Come around here now. How do you want me to handle the butter? Any way you want to

There's a fork. I don't need that. Mmm. Mmm. Mm. Shoot ya

All right, I'm gonna start fixing my potato the way I like it. Oh, here, honey, use a spoon so you can get you some of that wonderful sauce

I think I'm gonna put seafood on mine. Oh, my goodness. Look at that

Try that. Okay, and you can try this. Mm-hmm. Whoa

I don't know which one's better. They're both pretty great. God did so good when he gave us the potato

Coming up, finger-licking-good marinated chicken wings served with a fabulous avocado dip

He's going in, y'all. He's going in. And later, Bobby and I are taking cheesecake to the max

surprise cheesecake pops, y'all. Y'all, welcome back. We're having the best time in the kitchen today

You know, I'm sore through my middle from laughing. From me punching you

You know, from me laughing. Oh, my goodness. Well, we're fixing to do this lime marinated chicken wings

with avocado dip. Right. I'm going to need the zest, or you're going to need the zest

from about one and a half limes. This is my recipe. Yes, it is

I'll be zesting your lime. If you would zest that lime into the chicken

I've got a blender up here because we're going to really, really incorporate

all these products good. We're going to pour it over our chicken wings

and we're going to let them marinate overnight. I'm going to start with one jalapeno pepper

that has been seeded and sliced. Don't get that pith in it now

You'll want to make sure that you... My recipe. I think the recipe calls for pith

No, it does not. It does. It says a small amount of pith. And you're pithing me off

Get to cooking that. All right, now I'm going to add four cloves of garlic

a fourth of a cup of oil, and we're using a vegetable oil

one tablespoon of tomato paste, a pinch of salt, and two tablespoons of honey

that I'm just gonna eyeball. All right, now I'm gonna juice one and a half limes

Okay. All right, now all we're gonna do is puree our ingredients

All right. Let's take a look at that. Does it smell good

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All right. So I'm just going to pour this on top of your wings

And this does have to marinate overnight. Mm-hmm. And you can get a..

I'll just do it with my hands. Oh, no. Don't do it with your hands, son. No

What you want me to use? A pair of tongs? Yeah, just use those tongs. All right

So, son, if you'll just toss that up, making sure they're all coated real good

and then just cover it with a plastic. It's going in, y'all

It's going in. After you handle poultry, you want to wash your hands real good

with soapy water. Y'all excuse me while I wash my hands with soap

Well, while Bobby's washing his hands, I'm going to come down here

and pull out some chicken that I already marinated because I knew Bobby Dean would not want to wait until tomorrow for this Oh you had some ready Yes So look at these wings

Sweet. We're just going to lay our wings out on our cookie sheet, and I've got

parchment paper on this cookie sheet so that cleanup will be easy. Now I noticed

in your recipe, Bobby, that you put these under the broiler, and it says to broil

them on each side before Four to five minutes. Yeah, this is a quick, quick recipe

So let's put these in the oven, son. And I tell you what, my oven really has a very strong broiler

And I'm going to crack that because you should always broil with your oven door not completely shut

I didn't know that. How come? Well, because it can get too hot and it can burn it

So you want to let some hot air out and some cool air in

Well, you don't have some ready someplace since you had some marinated already

There's not a hot pan of wings someplace? You're talking about five minutes per side

Get down here and make this avocado dipping sauce for me. This is something that I don't do a lot

Jamie's really, really good at making an avocado dip. Just turn it kind of clockwise

Now, because this is so ripe, we're not going to have any trouble getting this out

You would just take your spoon, nestle it against that skin, come around, and just that easy, your avocado's out

Now, Bobby, add the second half of the avocado and dice us up three tablespoons of cilantro

All right, now I'm going to put a little salt. I got you some cilantro coming

Now, if you'd add that one clove of minced garlic and cilantro

we're gonna put 1 1⁄2 teaspoons of fresh lime juice. So just that quickly, Bobby, we've got another great item

to put on that buffet table. Casual dining that we love. Up next, surprise cheesecake pops

that's gonna just leave you wanting more. You like it? Mmm. Bobby and I are taking wonderful recipes that work for the buffet table

You know, our family loves casual dining, and there's some foods that's just meant for a buffet table

Now, we have cooked up some lime marinated chicken wings, and I love the fact that they've not taken your typical expected blue cheese

and serve with these. They've made up an avocado dip. So I can't wait to dig in

Tell me what you think. Are they done enough? Yes. They're perfect

And broiling them has got that skin real, real crispy. Mmm. Never eaten avocado and wings before together

Mmm. Best wing you've ever had. Oh, Bobby. They are delicious. But you know what I want now

Something sweet. Me too. This is called a cheesecake surprise pop. And this is just a store-bought cheesecake

Okay. And all kinds of delicious little goodies that we can use for it

You can fill the centers of these with peanut butter-filled chocolate bite here

We've got a chewy caramel. And then we've got fresh raspberries. Now, I got the stick and the caramel

You make it a surprise by wrapping the cheesecake around it. Okay. and I'm just using like a medium-sized scooper

And I'm going to try to avoid that crust because I think if we got any of that crust..

You'd probably have a hard time making a ball of that cheesecake if you were in that crust

Oh, Bobby, look how simple. All right, I'm going to roll this one in nuts

I love caramel in nuts. Love chocolate. She said, look at these

Doesn't that look good, Bobby? Very, very good and very simple. You can refrigerate

Very, very simple. Put these in the fridge for a couple hours and let them get nice and solid

Yes. Give it a shot. I've eaten so many of these things

Mmm. You like it? Mmm. This is one of those things that you won't want to put out too early

No, this is a last minute. Because as they start getting to room temperature, I mean, you'll want to just put a few of these out at the time for your guests

We'll have the freezer right as people are ready to eat them. Gosh, I've had fun putting this buffet together with you today

And Bodine said he has to pick that poor baby up, Bobby

Hey, kid, what you doing? And let him tell everybody goodbye along with us. Because our time is up today, and as always, you know that we send you love and best dishes from our kitchen to yours