Classin' Up the Weekday Meal

Y'all, I am getting ready to have just a little dinner party

Me and the girls. Just that girl. My best friends, Brandon, Cheryl, Donna, and I

are going to catch up and unwind over some mouth-watering and simple dinner party dishes

I feel like we're a modern-day still magnolias in the kitchen. Our main course is an herb-stuffed pork loin

with rosemary smashed potatoes. It's going to be delicious. Served alongside my savory Caesar salad

Look at that pretty lettuce, Cheryl. Isn't that beautiful? Yes. And for dessert, Brandon's treating us to his famous banana fosters

Cheers to a night with the girls. Night with the girls. Here, here

This is Brandon Branch. We've been together how many years? Nine or ten

Something. Something like that. Brandon is the master of all dinner parties, y'all

He throws dinner parties all the time at his house, at my house, wherever house he goes to

So I thought we'd just have a little... We're going to have Cheryl over and Donna

Yeah, and Donna's coming. I hope Cheryl brings cookies. If Cheryl does not bring cookies, we'll give her a pants down spanking

I'd book to. So, I thought I would cook a pork loin

I want to do things that you and I can get in here and put together easily

because we want to have fun, too. And I've noticed that you've already started on a cocktail

This is just water with limes. You are lying, boy. What'd your mama tell you about lying

I don't remember. I was probably drinking that day. Okay, I'm going to mix this up

What is this? What's happening? So what I want you to do is like half a teaspoon of paprika

a couple of teaspoons of seasoned salt, and about a fourth of a cup of parsley

and a couple of tablespoons of thyme. And we grew this in the garden

Yes, we did. Our parsley, this year is gorgeous. Yes, we did. Y'all, Brandon actually graduated

Shocking, I know. from Mississippi State University with a degree in horticulture

So he knows everything there is to know about every plant known to man

But, you know, your talents, Brandon, really, they fall over into just home decor, lifestyle

I mean, he is... I like to do pretty, I think. Yes, he likes..

I do pretty. He does pretty. I realized I liked pretty when I was probably, I think I was 10 years old or 12 years old

Yes. I grew up Southern Baptist, and the little church ladies would make the altar flowers

And they were so sad. I'm like, these poor ladies, God knows they tried

They did not know how to arrange a flower. So one day I said, listen, church ladies, I got this

Y'all can retire. So they gave me access to their yards. So every Sunday morning at 7, I would get up

I would get their flowers, make beautiful centerpieces, take them to the church. One Sunday, I did a centerpiece

The preacher barely could see over the altar. It went all the way to the ground. It was like this extravaganza thing

I know it was gorgeous, too, wasn't it? It was really pretty. So I did the church flowers until I went away to college

So we're going to take our chopped herbs and our minced garlic and mix it with about a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil

Can I open this and put it in there? Yes, just open it back up and put some of it in there

And then we're going to rub it. So just like a third of it

There you go. Just take it and rub it. Why do you like dinner parties, Brenda

Because I would much rather be in my home with my friends, making what I want

I like using a such at Bristol and fancy china. I always love just watching Brandon work, y'all

The boy can make a bow like no other. I was born with it. It's a gift. I don't own it

Like you're cooking. Like you can make a tuna fish sandwich taste like a million dollars

Oh, well, thank you. Like the simplest things you make are like out of this world

Well, thank you. So how do you do that? I don't know. Let's put that in the oven

Okay. 350, y'all, for an hour. So we're going to make mashed potatoes

No, we're going to do smashed red potatoes. Just pour them in there

We'll cover them with some water and salt. And we're going to cook them for about 15 minutes

Then we're just going to take the palm of our hand and smash them down. Put them on a cookie sheet with olive oil and some seasonings and we gonna serve them along with that pork and it gonna be delicious

Y'all don't want to miss this party. Coming up! Paula, I can't believe we gave him a knife

Brandon, Cheryl, and I put together a smashed potatoes and get started on the Caesar salad

How many people does it take to make croutons? How many southerners does it take to make croutons

And later, Brandon whips up more fun with his decadent dessert. Everybody watch your eyelashes

Mine are real, so y'all better watch out. I'm here with my right-hand man, my number one, Brandon Branch

You know, how do I name all the things you are to me

I don't know. Hey, y'all. Hey, Cheryl. Hey, there's cookies. Yes. Yum

Yay. What kind of cookies? What kind of cookies? Chocolate chips. Yeah

Those famous chocolate chips. I thought I'd come a little early. See if I can help y'all

You know I always need it. Come on in here. We're fixing to make smashed potatoes

Ooh, yay. What's cooking? We got a pork loin in the oven, and we have just taken the red potatoes out

Okay. They're pretty hot, Cheryl. So what do you want to smash them with

Smash, smash. I think when you put them in that, you can smash. Yeah, I'm going to be using this

Okay. But you can smash them with a cup. You can smash them with your hand

Oh, I like this. Yeah. I mean, that's easy. Yeah. All right

Can I see these back in the day next week? Mm-hmm, probably. On the lunch menu

Stay in. Oh, yeah, see, that's good. All right, so. Smash. That was fun

Uh-huh, and look who gets to clean up the pot. Me. Is this from your garden, Ms. Paula

Mm. Would you mind doing that? No. You want just roughshops? Some fresh rosemary

No. A couple of tablespoons, Cheryl. Okay. And what I'm going to do is I'm just going to heat our olive oil

Just a few tablespoons. And I'm going to just infuse that with a little heat

a little salt. You want the garlic in there? Yes, please. Who else is coming

Is Miss Donna coming? Just Donna. Donna, the first lady of Chatham County

I'm going to add a little heat and let these ingredients just kind of marry together

Now we'll get the rosemary in and just drizzle it over our potatoes

Oh, Lord. I start on the Caesar salad, the Kesar salad. Yeah, start on the Kesar salad

Well, that looks delicious. When we go out to eat, Brandon says to the waiter, I'll have the Kesar salad

And a filet mignon. And a filet mignon. I think it's funny

I don't know what I'm doing. Y'all, I'm going to bake these for about 15 or 20 minutes at 375 degrees

Not that they care. We do. We do. All right, Paula, what do you want me to do

Cheryl, if you would grate the cheese, I'm going to get Brandon started on the croutons

Okay. So the croutons have the restaurant you deep fry, don't you? Yes, we do

Oh, and they're good. They're like amazing. You are correct, Brandon. I've been there

All right, how much cheese, Paula? I probably need about a third of a cup, Cheryl, please

And while you're doing that, I'll mix together a seasoning for the croutons

It's just a fourth of a teaspoon of onion powder, a fourth of a teaspoon of garlic powder

half a teaspoon of seasoned salt, and one teaspoon of Italian seasoning

We're not deep frying these, though. Are we? No, we're not going to deep fry them. Okay

Because we're on a diet. Remember? We're doing a ladies' dinner. That's right

Ladies do not like the deep-fried cruchon. Okay. I would have to go run 26 miles to have this salad

And it's almost swimsuit season, ladies. Paula, I can't believe we gave him a knife

But he's so lovely. I have to say he is. I mean well

I'm going to cut these just a little bit smaller. Okay. Because that's going to be hard to get that in our little pile

I knew I would do it wrong. Should I know? All right, you see, you want to make these not so big that you can't get them in your mouth with a piece of lettuce

How many people does it take to make croutons? Apparently. How many southerners does it take to make croutons

All right, here we go. Now we're going to toss these with our cheese and all those wonderful seasonings

Okay, yum. Yum. If they look like they need a little bit more oil I going to just give them a little bit Yes olive oil Olive oil Mm Two syllables oil

All right, y'all, let's put these in the oven. We'll bake those off for about 15 minutes

These are at 375? Yes. We'll probably go over and toss some, Cheryl, to make sure they get. Okay

So, Brandon, why don't you start working on the table and Cheryl and I'll get this cleaned up

I can do it. So we can get this party started, honey. Coming up, there's nothing like a fabulous meal with fabulous friends

There are wooden ships, there are steel ships. But there's no ship like friendship

And we save room for the ultimate dessert. This will make you hurt yourself

Brandon. Oh, that's delicious. All right, y'all

We got our little girls party. Yes. I'm here with Cheryl Day. We're waiting on our friend Donna Foltz to get here

I have got Brandon over there setting our table, y'all. That's right

We've got Brandon occupied. He's good at that Especially if it's pretty Yes

He's busy making pretty Cheryl Alright so I'm going to get our pork loin out Okay

And it looks so good Well I tell you what We've got to make our salad

So we've got our head of romaine Out there Doesn't that look yummy

I'm just going to sit this right here And let it rest

Isn't that pretty Yum. And I'm going to pour that juice over there

Now, Cheryl, if you'd start prepping our lettuce. Okay. Now, on a Caesar salad, do you like to cut or tear

I think I've always torn, but you tell me. I like to tear, too

Of course. I think cutting's fancier, but I ain't saying nothing. No, it is not

And when you get through, just put that into our bowl. Okay. And while you're doing that, I'm going to start making our Caesar dressing

All right? All right. I'm going to start with one egg. You know, a classic Caesar dressing almost always has a raw egg in it

Oh. Now, some people... Well, you have good eggs. Yes, I've got good eggs

My little chickadees give them to me fresh daily. So what do people do if they don't use a fresh egg

You know, they can just omit it. Okay. I'm going to eyeball about a tablespoon of Worcestershire

Okay. I'm going to add a fourth of a teaspoon of red pepper flakes, Cheryl

Okay. I'm going to add a half a teaspoon of salt. And you'll want to be careful because I'm going to put anchovy paste in here

Okay, and that's strong. And those little fish are very, very salty

But it's good. It's so good. So I'm going to put about a fourth of a teaspoon

Okay. Oh, that's so pretty

Look at that pretty lettuce, Cheryl. Isn't that beautiful? Yes. So, Brandon, how are you coming

I'm just covering the table. We're going to have no room for utensils or anything, but it's going to be beautiful

Brandon. More is more. More is more. We'll add about a third of a cup of our lemon juice

What's taking so long? I could be having cocktails right now. We're coming

We're coming. We're hurrying. Story of my life. All right. How much cheese

About a half a cup, Cheryl. And now I'm going to add a cup of olive oil

There is nothing like a homemade salad dressing. No. Don't you think

Hey. Donna. Hey, Donna. You made it me. I was worried about you

Hey, Donna. Come on. Cut the pork. Yes. Yum. This was so good

Now, I'm going to add the rest of our Parmesan cheese. All right, Cheryl, if you would dress that salad, please

Okay. And do it right or we'll never hurt the end of it. Am I that bad, Jill? No

I'm bossy in the kitchen. I'm so sorry. We love it. You just know what you like, and that's fine

We have our standards, don't we, Paula? Yes. Okey-doke. Here we go

Told you you went and do it right. You didn't listen. Oh, I knew that it was going to happen

But I'm okay, because you know what? I'm going to learn something every time. I kinda like this weeknight dinner party thing It kind of nice just to have girls all together on a weekday

Yes, it is. All right. Y'all ready? We are ready

I love, look what Brandon did. Isn't that gorgeous? Yes. Yes. I think that's for our hair

All of us? I wish I had hair to put it in. This is like the lady and her girls

You could put it in your body. Yes. Do you need hair? Yes. Another restaurant

Thank you. You're welcome. This pork is incredible

I'm going to make this my next dinner party at my house. Really? Oh, you should

It's absolutely delicious. You're there, pretend like you never had it. And I'm loving this salad, Paula

Well, I'm loving the potatoes. Delicious. Oh, my goodness. They are so good

I say we make a toast. Okay. Let's make a toast. Good friends. Good friends

How about this one? There are tall ships. There are small ships

There are wooden ships. There are steel ships. But there's no ship like friendship

Aw, I love that. Clear. Coming up. It's time to finish our meal with Brandon's Bananas Foster

Oh, my goodness. That is so good. This will make you testify. Testify, sister. Mm-hmm

Y'all, that meal was so good. So good. It was delicious. Thank you so much

The potatoes, I am... Love potatoes. I feel like we're a modern-day still magnolias in the kitchen

Modern day. We're like the ya-ya sisterhood. We are. So we're going to make Brandon's banana foster

It's flaming, of course. And it has four bananas. You know, I love the bananas foster at Brandon's in New Orleans

Every time we go, you take us there. Oh, it's so good. And I've had your bananas foster before

This is your dessert, yes. I have never had your bananas foster

It's not a dessert, I believe. But usually I'm not invited to your dinner party. I was just going to say, have you ever been invited to me neither

Cheryl was talking about dinner party. Because you have to leave your house after dark to come to my party

This is your party. It took me 13 years to get invited. To get invited

Oh, my gosh. Well, Brandon and I have only been together 12, so there you go

You have been to dinner parties at my home. You may have been an hour late, but I don't want to bring that up

We went like one. Don't want to bring that up. I added half a cup of brown sugar

I'm going to add some nutmeg and some cinnamon. And then a pinch of salt

Okay, that looks good, Brandon. Now we're going to throw the bananas in here

Okay. For three to four minutes and let them caramelize. Okay. You know who made the best bananas foster that I've ever eaten

Who? Michael's brother, Hank. Hank is an incredible cook. We're gonna add a quarter cup of rum, but we're gonna add it after it's off the fire

You don't want to add it while the fire is on or the house will catch on fire. Okay. Which I've been to dinner parties where that's happened, and it is a lot of fun when the firemen show up

Oh, my. Yum, those look so good. Now, if you want to use this instead of that spoon, it may be less likely to tear your bananas up

We don't want to damage the bananas, Donna. Everybody watch your eyelashes

Mine are real, so y'all better watch all. It's burning. We're going to burn that off

Yum. Yay. So now we're just going to serve this over a light vanilla ice cream. Okay

And garnish it with a cookie. Yeah, right. Yum. Yes. Okay, let's make a toast

Cheers. Cheers. Cheers to a night with the girls. Cheers. Night with the girls

Here, here. Mmm. Brandon. Oh, that's delicious. Oh, my goodness. That is so good

This will make you testify. Testify, sister. There's a treadmill in my future

We've got to go pile up in the bed and tell some stories. Watch some movies

I'm in. Let's go solve some crimes. Yes. Mm-hmm. I'm in. Y'all, I've got to go

You're going to run. I'm going to bed. I'm full as a dick. Y'all gonna go to bed with me, right

Yep. Loving best dishes, y'all. What is it here