Dishin On Dishes

You know, I don't know if there's anything any more fun, Martha, than two Southern women getting in the kitchen together

Today, my friend Martha Hall Foose and I are going to be dishing up some of our favorite dishes, starting with her delicious tomato soup

And then Martha's going to be making some creamy homemade mayonnaise to go with our fabulous pimento cheese sandwiches

Look at it. It looks like softened butter, Martha. Well, I know how you feel about that

And going on the side, we've got the crispiest waffle fries, y'all

Listen to that crunch. Isn't that wonderful? And finally, topping it all off, we've got Martha's specialty, sweet tea pie and sweet tea

Now you know you can't leave on that one. Oh my goodness

Look, y'all, it's Martha Hall Foose. Maffoos. She is the author of Screen Doors and Sweet Tea

This book is so wonderful, y'all. A good old southern girl from Mississippi

it don't get no more southern than Mississippi. You know, you make me sound like a Yankee

It's the deep, deep south. Yes, it is the deep, deep south. Now, what are we making, Martha

We're going to make a tomato soup, and we're going to broil these tomatoes in the oven

Broil or bake? Broil them so that skin's going to char and get really black

Okay, okay. We're going to start with three pounds of ripe tomatoes, and you can use any kind you like

And we're just going to cut them in half and get that little core out of there. Notching out the stem

And then you can kind of squeeze out all the seeds and any sort of little remnants that are in there

And we're going to chop up a medium white onion. You can just rough chop. So Martha actually went to France, y'all, to study

And I can't pronounce the school that you went to. It's called a colonote, and primarily it's a baking school, but it did a little bit of everything over there

And were you married at the time? Oh, no, no, no. Oh, so you were a single woman in France

A single girl in Paris. I opened the door to my hotel the first day I was there

and I felt like Mary Tyler Moore, that girl. I slung the thing open. Paris took a lot to get out of the Azur City to Paris

so Paris, here I come. Oh, how fun. We're going to heat up this little pot right here

and we're going to cook that down in three tablespoons of butter. I've got your butter covered

You know, people always think tomatoes and olive oil, but tomatoes and butter come together, right

Please, yes. Lady. So we're going to get that melted up, and we're just going to add those rough chopped onions in there. Okay

And I'm going to pop these in the broiler. Let our tomatoes broil in the oven for about 12 minutes until the skins are nice and charred

While we're waiting for those tomatoes to broil, let's make some homemade mayonnaise. Oh, my gosh. I love homemade mayonnaise, and I can't wait to see your recipe

Well, my great answer is mayonnaise. Mayonnaise. Yes, ma'am. You see what I'm saying, y'all, about that southern accent

Well, what I'm going to do first is we need to get some eggs separated. Okay

And to measure out, a cup and a half of canola oil. And I like to use canola oil for my mayonnaise because it has just a neutral sort of flavor

Put our egg yolks right in our bowl here. Okay. Martha brought with her her old mayonnaise maker, y'all

I used to have one of these. And this is what the women made their mayonnaise in

This little net at the bottom would mix up all the egg yolks. Yeah. And then this little hole in the top, as you pump it up and down

And we let the perfect amount of little oil drizzle down there to get that velvety emulsion

Wonderful. I love this mothball. I love that, too. And if you ever see one at a garage sale, pick it up for me because they're getting hard to find

I will get it. I know. We're not going to use your mayonnaise maker today, but we're going to use a little thing called a hand mixer

We want to get a really great emulsification. So what we need to do is drizzle in that oil slow and steady

You can see it's starting to become opaque in color. Yes. And you're just, it's a labor of love, but once you go homemade mayonnaise, it's hard to go back

It's hard to go back, isn't it? And, you know, you can flavor it any way you like

You can put a big old tablespoon of hot sauce on the end if you like or some fresh herbs

Michael would love that. The acid in the lemon juice and the vinegar is really going to cook the eggs so they're not actually raw

Look at it. It looks like softened butter, Martha. Well, I know how you feel about that

Don't, mister. All right, now what we're going to do is we're going to add our flavorings in here

Okay. So we're going to add a little bit of dry mustard, a teaspoon of dry mustard. Okay

You can add cayenne to taste. Okay, now I'll add about a teaspoon

And then a little bit of sugar. I'm going to add about a teaspoon of that

Okay. And cannot forget our teaspoon of salt. and a little bit of vinegar and lemon juice

about a teaspoon of each And you can eyeball it Okay that it We gonna to leave it on the counter for four hours Yes ma All right And that is pretty much it for mayonnaise

All right, so I'm going to take these tomatoes out, okay? Beautiful

See, that's just going to peel right off, y'all. And having those, you know, when you cook tomato soup

sometimes those skins peel all up in there, and you get those little, like, rolled up paper pieces. Yes

And that knocks that right out of the equation. Perfect, y'all. And look at that

The skin's just going to pull right off. This is great. You can use yellow tomatoes if you have them, or orange tomatoes, or do a two-tone

Broiling them is really concentrated, those flavors. So are we just going to put these into the onion pot, Mom

We are. We're going to top these right in with our butter-sautéed onions

So these are about 20 minutes, and the tomatoes are really going to break down. Uh-huh

Right. Perfectly done. All right. Can I take this juice and all? Yes, ma'am

That's all. Every bit of that juice. Martha, now what have you got planned for that wonderful homemade mayonnaise

I know you got something good and tasty. Pimento cheese, please. Pimento cheese sandwiches, y'all in the South

We don't go on a picnic. We don't go on a boat ride without homemade pimento cheese

Coming up next, we can't have tomato soup and pimento cheese sandwiches

without my crunchy waffle fries, y'all. What a perfectly southern lunch. It is

And later, I can't wait for you to see this dessert. Martha is showing us her fabulous sweet tea pie

Oh, sweet tea pie, shut up. Y'all, welcome back. We're making tomato soup

We've got our homemade mayonnaise made. And the next thing we're going to do is one of my recipes, and it's waffle sweet potato fries

So how are you coming with Amanda Lynn? I'm good. It's making fast work of it

Good, good. Always use the hand guard. Yes, always use the hand guard

No matter how fancy you think you are. All right, so I'm going to grab the sweet potatoes, y'all

I'm going to drop them in. And these are only going to take a minute to cook because Martha's cutting them extra thin

And we've got our peanut oil set to 350 degrees. Look at these, Martha

They're beautiful. Aren't they beautiful? The color. I love sweet potatoes. They're so good for you

Lots of vitamin A. Yes. Yum, yum, yum. And I swear I think they're ready, Martha

Love that sweet, salty, crispy. Yes. So I just want to shake the grease off of these

I'm going to just sprinkle them with a little kosher salt. That is a thing of beauty

Yes, look at that. Risky. Yes, yes, yes. You want to reach in there and get you one

I do want to get me one. Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm

They're so thin. Look at them. Light and crisp. Listen to that crunch

Isn't that wonderful? Well, come on down here, honey, because my stomach's growling

Those tomatoes are just cooking up. They are cooking down. So what are we going to do next

We're going to finish off our soup. Oh, ladybird. We're going to finish off our soup

We're going to add two tablespoons of chopped basil. And I'm going to try to stab the potato chips

Good luck with that one. All right, what, you want me to grate the cheese up in this bowl

For our delicious pimento cheese sandwiches. And y'all, I'm gonna be grating about two cups of cheddar, a nice sharp cheddar cheese

I like it nice and sharp. And now I'm gonna strip down some little oregano leaves

I love that spicy oregano. Yes. And then this is just gonna hang out

We're gonna add those herbs right at the end so they stay fresh tasting. Okay

I'm gonna get to work grating up two cups of Colby cheese

Mm-hmm. Yes. And this is grating up quickly. Don't worry about Bodine, y'all

He sees like two winches in the kitchen with good food. So, and I like the sharp cheddar on this

I do, too. I do, too. You need a sharp cheese. And the Colby really gives it a nice contrast, too. Uh-huh

And you know what? Let's, this herbs that they've cooked down, why don't we give it a little sprinkle of sugar

Okay, and how much sprinkle? Half a teaspoon, maybe. and then we're gonna add some salt

and some pepper out of our cool little box here. I'll make sure you get one of my little boxes

I love a party favor. I do too. So let that finish up

Okay, Martha, now here's my bowl so you can add our cheeses together

Got cheese coming out of everywhere. All right, now say you've got some sage

sitting over here on the counter. It's gonna be our secret ingredient in the pimento cheese

I can wait to see what it going to do to the pimento cheese It wonderful And you know there a great description where they call it an opaque cicada wing because that what the little leaves look like just like a little cicadas wing So if you want to chop up a little half a teaspoon or so

just a touch. A half a teaspoon. You know, nice and fine. So we're not going to use much

Not a ton of it. And then we're going to drain our pimentos

because you don't want that liquid in there because you don't want your pimento cheese to be slimy

And then we're going to also add a teaspoon of dry mustard

Okay. Touch of cayenne. And we need some fresh lemon juice. You want to scrub that for us

And how much lemon juice? About a teaspoon. And I'm going to start sprinkling these pimentos in here

We're going to use a cup of our delicious homemade mayonnaise. May I dump

Yes, ma'am. Do the honors. So you got some Worcestershire sauce? We do

About a half a teaspoon or so. You do? And you've got a little cayenne pepper sauce

Right. This girl has a hot tongue. Well. All right, now how much of this

Just a good little shake, maybe about a quarter of a teaspoon. About a fourth of a teaspoon, okay

That looks delicious, Martha. I can't wait to taste it. So what do you say, let's get this lunch

All right, you take the pimented cheese and I'll take this soon? Yes, I'm hungry, honey

Oh, my goodness, it looks so good. It smells so good. And I love your bread choices

Look at this beautiful pumpernickel bread. Yum. Mm-mm, mm-mm-mm. Crispy sweet potato fries

What a fabulous, perfectly southern lunch. It is. Mmm, mmm, mmm

Cheers. Martha. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Fabulous with that bread. Mmm. Isn't it

Creamy homemade mayonnaise. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm

Buttery tomatoes and onions. You would never, ever want canned tomato soup ever again

if you have it this way. It's delicious. Those fresh herbs and that oregano gives it a nice little..

Finishing off with a little sugar really brings out the tomato flavor

And the sweet potato fries are so delicious with the sandwich. What's next, Martha

Sweet tea pie. Oh, sweet tea pie, shut up. No, she just said sweet tea pie

Sweetie pie. Sweetie pie! Oh, my God, she's got me so excited

I'm spitting sandwich everywhere. Coming up, you can't beat this combination of sweet tea pie

and later some sweet tea to wash it down. This recipe has the Paula Deen stamp of approval

Martha promised us pie, y'all. So get us going, girl. We're going to make a sweet tea pie

Love it. The house wine of the South into a pie. Yes, yes. All right, now I'm cracking and separating eight eggs

Right, we're going to use eight yolks and two sticks of butter right up your alley, this pie here

And so I'm going to add those right in there. This recipe has the Paula Deen stamp of approval

I'm going to measure out here three-quarters of a cup of strongly brewed orange peacoat tea

Okay. And that's been set to cool because we don't want it to melt our butter

So we're going to make this way ahead of time. So to our butter here, I'm going to whiz this up with two cups of granulated sugar

As soon as I get this separated, I will measure out your two cups of sugar

I'm going to get this so it's kind of mushed up and ready. Now what we're going to get you to do is slowly add those egg yolks a little bit at a time

so we can get that incorporated. Okay. Martha was telling me that when she was in high school

she went to a state fair. The Mississippi State Fair Pie Baking Contest

This was how this pie started, and I thought for sure I was going to take the day

All I got was a souvenir apron. They had some ladies that have been baking pie. No ribbons for Martha

No ribbons for me. And so I initially was making this with water

And then one day I was drinking some tea while I was making the pie, and I thought, sweet tea, pie, sweetie pie

Sweetie pie. And we've got her pie crust, her cream cheese pie crust patted down in our pie dish, and it just looks wonderful

So why do you think your pie didn't win, Martha? I just think I was a little upstart

You know, there were some ladies in there that had been baking pies longer than I'd been alive at that point. And honey, take it dead serious, Toby

Oh, very serious. They are dead serious about trying to get that blue ribbon Let pop that last little yolk in here Okay And then we going to add your tea right Please do And you can use your favorite herb tea

In the wintertime, you can use sort of a Christmassy herb tea. In the summer, a little lemon. That would really change up the flavor, Martha

Customize it to what you like. In this part, it's really important to slowly incorporate it

Uh-huh. So it doesn't separate. This is going to be a sweet pie

It's going to be a sweet pie. It really is going to be a sweet pie. And then next, that traditional ingredient, a little bit of cornmeal

So we've got a teaspoon and a half. Okey-doke. And that's going to give it a nice little tooth to it and also help absorb the liquid

Two tablespoons. All-purpose flour. That looks absolutely perfect. Give it a little half a teaspoon of salt because we always want to balance out that sweet

We're going to add the zest and the juice of one whole lemon

Okay. Oh, smell it. Something about lemon. It makes me want to go polish furniture

And we're going to beat that in there. And we're going to get the juice in there, too

All right, let's drizzle that one in here. Using my hand as a strainer

All right. We've got our prepared pie crust right over here. And you want to take this out of the fridge right before you're going to use it

so it's nice and cold when it goes in the oven because you don't want any shrinkage and you don't want it to squish down in you

And I'll hold this. Yum, yum, yum. Thank you. I love pie

Everybody loves pie. Oh, nothing like pie. You can get anything you want from somebody as long as you give them a homemade pie

If I see a skinny girl walking down the street, I say, we're going to send her some pie. Uh-huh

We're going to pull a thing. She needs pie. She needs a little pie. All right, I'll open the oven door and we can pop it in

Right over here. I think Martha has got me beat with the butter. I like the way this girl thinks, y'all

She's going to go for about... 350, 45 minutes. don't go anywhere because we're going to have

sweetie pie. Coming up next, you just can't go wrong with sweet tea

and sweet tea pie, y'all. Isn't that a wonderful way to spend an afternoon

with a girlfriend and a good old pie? Martha, we have got to have

some good old sweet tea to wash our sweetie pie down with

We surely do. So tell them how you make your sweet tea. We got a cup of water boiling here, and if you can add us three quarters of a cup of granulated sugar

Okie doke, I can so do that. A lot of restaurants, especially in the South, will make a simple syrup for the tea and bring it to the table in a little pitcher so you can sweeten your own tea

Because let me tell you something, sugar will not sweeten cold tea

It just will not. Stir and stir and stir. You could stir until you're blue in the face, and you're still going to have unsweet tea

And, you know, you can make a big batch of simple syrup and let it cool and keep it in the jug in the fridge

Keep it in the jug, yeah. And so if you need it in hand for juleps or whatever. Yes, yes

Okay, you want to pour that up in our cup? I will. And then in our jar over here, we've got four large tea bags

Okie doke, and that's like a family-sized tea bag, right, Martha? And we've let that steep so it's nice and strong

And I'm going to switch over to the other side. Okay, yeah, come on

I'm just going to ice our glasses. Come on around here. We're going to pour our tea right in our nice pitcher here

We've let that cool off some. Because if you put it in the refrigerator while it's hot, you'll get cloudy tea

Nobody wants cloudy tea. So to our tea, we're going to add our simple syrup. Okey-doke

Drizzling a little bit. Oh, my goodness

And now I have to turn my attention to the pie, y'all

Well, important things. Yes. Come on over, dear. Yum

Is that right? Yes. Is that beautiful or what? Martha. Ready? Yes

Mmm. Mmm. Martha, it's so good. Isn't that a wonderful way to spend an afternoon with a girlfriend and a good old pie

Yum, little pie. Thanks for having me. Mmm, thank you for coming