Dinner for Two

Hey y'all, I'm Paula Deen

There's nothing like having a quiet romantic evening at home with you, honey

Today it's going to be just Michael and me for dinner. So I'm fixing to make a fancy but easy dinner for two

For starters, I'm going to be making a delicious crunchy mushroom canapÃ

and asparagus salad that's just tangy with flavor. And just wait till y'all see the succulent char-grilled filet mignon I'm grilling

I know Michael's gonna love it. And y'all don't forget to save room for dessert

because we're gonna finish this fabulous meal with a chocolate banana cream pie

which is a real, real sweet ending for a very special meal

So y'all dim the lights and pull out your fancy china because today we're making dinner for two

Hey, y'all

I just so enjoy coming over here to my service cabinet because it reminds me of friends that's

in my life. You know, I am a new bride, and today I'm going to be preparing a romantic dinner for two

And I'm over here looking for the perfect container to make my dessert in. These glasses that belong

to my grandmother, Paul. I think I'm going to use these two glasses. So y'all come on over here in

the kitchen because, you know, we're going to go ahead and start our dessert. But, you know

it's really not all that easy to cook for two. I think I'd so much rather cook for four than two

because, like I said, it's just kind of hard to break things down in small portions. But that's

what I'm going to do today because it's very, very unusual. But this meal is just going to be

shared between Michael and me. You see, there's tons of folks around

but this one's gonna be a very, very romantic dinner. So our first recipe

I'm making miniature chocolate banana pies. I'm gonna start with three ripe bananas

and I'm gonna give them a little mash, just to kind of help them along

I'm gonna add one 15 ounce package of ricotta cheese. And then I'm gonna add one 8 ounce package of cream cheese

And then I'm gonna add a half a cup of granulated sugar

And I'm just gonna simply whisk these with the mixer. And I know what you're thinking

know what you're thinking. You're thinking, now Paula, you're making a dessert for two

and you've got a tremendous bowl of stuff there. So this does make a lot. You can pare

this recipe down and make a smaller amount if you like. All right, I'm going to turn

that on low speed and I'm going to slowly add a half a cup of cocoa powder so it won't

lump. So you can see that this is going to be very, very rich in chocolate. And I'm going

to turn this off. Now I'm going to take my spatula and I'm going to go around my bowl

pulling in all that cocoa so it can get in the blades and mixed up

And the last ingredient we're going to add is half a teaspoon to a teaspoon of vanilla extract

All right, so I've taken just a regular graham cracker crust. Graham crumbs, sugar, and melted butter

And I'm going to put this into my glasses. So I think I'm going to start with my ladle, and I think it's going to work nicely

And I can't tell you what it means to be able to use my grandmother's cups

She prepared dishes in these and drank out of these and used them And they going to be beautiful Plus they they gonna be just kind of whimsical and romantic looking Now I gonna fill these with the chocolate You know some of this

leftover batter would be wonderful inside of a crepe. All right, so now I'm gonna take my pies and I'm gonna top them with some fresh sweetened

whipped cream. Okay, I'm gonna take dried banana chips and I'm just gonna crush these

So, this is gonna let Michael know when he sees this that there's a good chance that

there's bananas inside this pie. Now, how beautiful are these? So I'm going to stick these in the fridge

Those dried banana chips are wonderful. On top, they're real crunchy. I'm going to take a quick break and clean up this mess, y'all

When we come back, I'm going to be making a marinated asparagus salad and mushroom canapes

I get real tickled at Michael Groover because we'll go out and we'll have a steak

or we'll cook a steak here and I'll say, Michael, don't you want some salad, honey

And he'll say, no, I'm on a diet. So, sometimes he cuts out the wrong things

but I'm going to make sure he eats some asparagus because not only is it going to be delicious

it's good for you. So let's get started on our mushroom canapes

Now I'm using just a regular party bread and I'm using a pumpernickel

You can use rye. It comes in several different flavors, so whichever you prefer

Now I put this in the oven and I've toasted it off so it's extra crispy

Now I'm gonna take a small can of sliced mushrooms, a half a cup of mayonnaise

some fresh grated Parmesan cheese, fourth of a cup, a third of a cup

You can really make it as cheesy as you like. And I'm going to take half of a small can of fried onion rings

and I'm going to use half that can, and I'm going to fold those in

And then I'm just going to pile this up on our toasted pumpernickel bread

and I'm going to run this under the broiler until it's bubbly

All right, there we go. Now I'm just going to spoon this onto our bread squares

This recipe was shared with me by a friend named Diane that has a bed and breakfast downtown

Diane's a great cook. She loves to entertain. And so I was thrilled when she shared this with me

I knew that Diane wouldn't serve something that wasn't perfectly yummy. So let's run these under the broiler

So just follow me over here to the oven. And we're going to put these in

And I think I'm going to put them on the bottom shelf. so I don't have to worry about them burning

because while those are broiling off, I'm going to start our marinated salad

And I have just taken some fresh asparagus and just steamed it off

You can see it's holding its shape. You don't want to steam this for more than probably about 60 seconds

So I'm just going to put them in a long, shallow dish

and I'm going to sprinkle them with a garlic powder. So, all that garlic I just put in there

might take the romance out of this dinner. I don't know. But if we both eat it, maybe it won't be a problem

And then I'm going to put about a half a teaspoon of dried tarragon

A little salt. A little pepper. And then I'm going to take some Italian dressing that's made from one pack of the dry Italian mix

and you make it per the directions on the packet. I'm just going to give that a little stir because the oil and the vinegar has separated

So I just going to pour this over our asparagus Mmm It looks perfectly delicious And I going to add about a fourth of a cup

of tarragon-flavored vinegar. That tarragon vinegar is going to give it an extra tartness

Now I'm going to stick this on the fridge and our mushroom canapes should be ready

So let's check on them. I'm smelling them. Oh, yeah. They're perfect

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh

It got hot quick. All right, now I'm gonna just sprinkle this with a little fresh parsley

it takes, you know, to get something green in Michael Groover, I'll do it. All right

Before I call him in, I'm going to just give it a quick

nibble of taste and make sure it's all right. But look how pretty that is

Mmm. Mmm. So good. He's going to love them

really, really good. Mmm. In fact, I'm going to spoil my dinner if I'm not careful

because these are just out of this world. When we come back, I'm going to be really homing in

on one of Michael's and mine's favorite food, and that's a filet mignon

So between the steak, the chocolate banana pie, the mushroom canapes. It may be in the bag tonight

Tonight's dinner is all about a romantic dinner for two. So I'm thrilled that y'all are here with me

And I'm getting a meal prepared that I think Michael is going to love, filet mignon

And I'm going to start by marinating them in the refrigerator, and I'm going to use just a plain Italian dressing

Now, you can use a bottled Italian dressing, or if you make your own, that'll be great

You can just pour that over it. And I'm going to marinate my steaks for about four hours, two hours on one side

Then I'm going to flip them and marinate them for two more hours on the other side

And I've already got some that's marinating right here, so they're ready to go

Now, I'm going to make a basting sauce for these steaks as they're cooking

I'm going to take two teaspoons of water, and I'm going to add two tablespoons of a steak sauce

I'm going to mix that together to just break it down a wee little bit

All right, now I'm going to take our steaks out. Oh, and that smells delicious

All the herbs and everything in that Italian dressing, I can really smell it

Now I'm going to take two nice pieces of bacon, and I tend to use here in my house a thicker bacon

Now I'm just going to wrap that around like that, and I'm going to take a piece of kitchen twine

or cord, and I'm just gonna measure that off and secure that bacon around that steak

And then I'm gonna cut that off so that that won't fall onto the fire to the griddle and burn

All right, so I'm going to take my second piece of bacon and do the same thing

And this one's going to be my steak because it's smaller

So I'm just going to transfer these to the grill. I'm gonna brush this side with our steak sauce

and this is gonna give it just a little extra kick that we normally wouldn't have

So all right now I gonna turn those over and we gonna do the same thing on the other side And I gonna marinate this side

That steak sauce smells really, really good. All right, so I'm gonna let this cook on for a few minutes

I'm gonna give my hands a quick wash. Now, if you like your meat more towards medium well

A thick fillet is really a challenge to cook to that temperature

So if you're afraid that your meat won't get done as much as you like it

on top of the griddle, you can transfer this to a black skillet and run it in the oven

All right, so while that's grilling, I'm going to move back down here to my asparagus

and I've got a perfect plate set out with a variety of beautiful lettuces

because you see I'm going to make this as tempting-looking to Michael Groover as I can

So I'm going to pile our asparagus in here, and I'm going to do it so that the tips are turned outwards

on my serving platter. Okay

So I've got about a cup of mayonnaise. It really depends on how much sauce you think you'll need

but for us, I'm taking a cup. probably a little bit more than the ordinary person would use

And I've got that wonderful marinade down here in my bowl, and I'm just going to pour a little bit of that into my mayonnaise

and give that a stir. So I'm going to have a wonderful tangy sauce

to serve alongside of this asparagus. I'm just going to tuck it right in here

But doesn't that look yummy? And how lucky am I I can snack on this

And nobody will ever know I mess with a dish. That's so good

and so flavorful. It's ice cold and crisp. It's delicious. Well, let's walk back down here now

Check on our steaks. and I'm pretty good, but I don't think I'm this good

So I don't think there's any way for me to taste this steak

until I completely pull the meal together. But I do have some things that I want to share with y'all

and you know, you eat your meal first with your eyes. So when we come back, I'm going to show you some tips

on setting up a romantic table. So I'll see y'all back in a minute

You'll have a beautiful table put together, and a fabulous steak to try

I like jewelry as most women do, and I like pretty napkins

Well, I've taken some beautiful patterned napkins, and I pull in the jewelry from my closet

out as napkin rings. This is a beautiful silver bracelet that a friend gave me

I just love it. Well, I love it so much that that's going to be Michael Groover's napkin ring tonight

This one I've taken real fresh ivy, cut off a piece long enough to tie the napkin with

and attached a flower to it. And the last napkin ring, it's a rhinestone brooch

and we all have these girls in our jewelry box. And you can see I've just slipped the napkin through this brooch

And look how beautiful that is. Mmm, you smell so good. So, what do y'all think about my romantic meal for two

What do you think? I think it's marvelous. Oh, it is. And the fact that we're in our garden off of our bedroom

you know, just a change of scenery can really turn an ordinary meal

into an extraordinary experience. And I've got you some wonderful dishes, Michael

I've got your favorite, marinated asparagus. Oh, great. And I made you some mushroom canapes

Oh, I do love those. I know you love those. And, of course, one of your favorites, filet mignon with a wonderful tossed salad

I've got individual mini chocolate banana pies. Oh, great. And just a little snack for you to start with

I've got you some fresh strawberries and flavored whipped cream. Well, Michael and I are fixing to share this wonderful meal together

and he and I send our love and best dishes to y'all. And please, find the person that you care about the most

and share a wonderful romantic meal with them. You ready? Yes. Serve me baby

Thank you