Garden Soiree

Y'all, what a treat have I got for y'all today

My friend Donna is back, and we're going to be throwing a garden soiree

Just the two of us, which is the way we like it. We're going to be making spicy salmon cakes with a mango tartar sauce

Looky, looky. I like it. You like it? Mm-hmm. And pecan-crusted pork crostini with a strawberry balsamic sauce

They're going to melt in your mouth. And then we're sweetening things up with Uncle Bubba's Tiny Key Lime Pies

My friend Donna Foltz, y'all will remember her being in the kitchen with me before

She's one of my dearest friends, and I love her so much

So we're having kind of a garden party soiree today. Just the two of us, which is the way we like it

And we're making salmon cakes with a mango tartar sauce. Donna was like the lead in all of the high school plays

She loved theater. Didn't you love theater? Tell her. I did. I love it. Yes, you do love theater

I love being in the plays. You were in the plays. I know you were. I was in one play. You was cheerleader

I was cheerleader. Homecoming queen. No, you couldn't be homecoming queen and cheerleader

Oh, because you had to work the game. Yes, you had to be one or the other. All right

I've got two eggs that I'm going to crack, and we're going to use a canned salmon

This is a great cost-effective meal. Well, I remember back years ago I could buy it for 99 cents a can

Right. And now it may be $1.99. Wow. Or it may be $2.59

I don't rightly know anymore. Right. But still, the bottom line is it's very economical

So if you're having a large group over and you want to stretch your budget, then canned salmon is definitely one of those items to use

Salmon croquettes were often on our menu when I was raising my boys

And there again, it's because it was so economical. Because, you know, growing boys, it's like they're walking around with empty legs

That's right. They're always hungry. All right, so I'm going to put in one cup of panko into our bowl

This is a Japanese breadcrumb. Oh, it's a breadcrumb. Yes, and I adore it

I love that. And Donna has chopped us up some fresh parsley

We're going to put about three or four tablespoons of the diced purple onion

All right, now I'm going to add about a fourth of a teaspoon of cayenne pepper

So that's going to give it a little bitty bite. I'm going to add a little bit of salt, a little bit of pepper

and then I'm going to add our eggs and mix it all together

Now I'm going to get my pan going, and I'm going to just use the canola oil to fry these in

And I've got some yellow cornmeal right here, Donna, that after I've mulled them into their little cakes

I'm going to roll them in that cornmeal, so it'll give it a nice little crust

And Donna, while I'm doing this, if you can come down here, we're going to make a wonderful tartar sauce using mango

Oh, yum. So this is going to give a whole different flavor to what we know as salmon cakes

Do you want me to do this? Yes. I want you to peel that, please, dear, and just dice it up

Okay. And then I want you to add a half a cup of mayonnaise and one tablespoon of drained capers. Okay

So hit it, girl. Okay, great. And I'm going to be working on these patties

You know, Donna, I think I'm going to be able to get like 12 out of here

So how is that for value? How are you doing over there

I'm doing great. Look at you, girl. I know. Look at me

Those are beautiful. I love that. Are they beautiful? Yes. All right, I just want to get..

Oh, I love that. Love the look of that. Yes, they're going to be delicious. I don't want to get my satin sleeves

Listen, I wish y'all could have had the cameras rolling while Donna and I was getting ready today

Oh. Okay, so I came over here with, like, four different outfits

that I thought were absolutely perfect, and she did not like any of them

She found several things in her closet she wanted me to wear. So we opted on this

I hope y'all like it. I just like that blouse better on you, honey

Is this looking right? It's perfect. Okay. All right. Okay, so... I'm just gonna try not to mess up these

So anyway... Those are beautiful. Now, the thing about salmon, canned salmon, is it's already done

Right. So the only thing that we have that we really want to cook in it Donna is the eggs Okay It not one of those things that has to like cook for hours Right Look Pretty Looky looky

I like it. You like it? Mm-hmm. All right, now these look ready

See how nice and brown these are? Oh, they're beautiful. Yeah, I love it. Yes

It's great. Pretty. Mm-hmm. And look how pretty that parsley, that fresh parsley

Nothing like it. I know. Well, let's taste. You want to? Yes

Okey-doke. I'm going to give you one of those pretty brown ones. Thanks

Isn't that pretty? Yes. All right, now let's get us a dollop of the mango tart

I like mayonnaise. Yum. All right, so tell me what you think, girl

Oh, it is so delicious. Mmm. Mmm. Isn't it yummy? Mm-hmm. And I love the mango with it

Mm-hmm. Oh, it's delicious. Oh, I'm so glad you like it. Mm-hmm

I learned something today, girl. Listen, y'all don't know where we're going to clean up. Mm

We're going to finish this. And we're going to be right back with my buddy Donna

Coming up, we're making tiny key lime pies with a chocolate cookie crust

This is so yummy. Tasty. Mm. And we've got a pecan-crusted tenderloin to top off our crostinis

Isn't it beautiful? It really is. And later, a sweet strawberry balsamic sauce

This party is looking better already. We're moving on to something sweet

Yay. And we are making Bubba's Tiny Chocolate Key Lime Pies. And these are going to be mini pies

Okay, good. And it's going to have a chocolate crust. Now, what I need from you, Donna, is three-fourths cup of sugar

Okay. And I'm going to measure out two cups of just ground chocolate crackers

And we just used little chocolate wafers. So whatever you can find in your grocery store

You know what those little cookies are? That looks amazing. It looks like coffee, doesn't it

How did you do that? Oh, I'm just smart that way. Did you crush them in a food processor

Yes. Wow. That's amazing. Doesn't that look just like ground coffee? It does

It doesn't smell like coffee. It looks like powder. It smells like cookies. So this is going to be the base of the..

This is going to be the crust, yes. Oh, yum. And if you would just kind of move that somewhere out of our way, Donna

And over here, I've got my butter. Now, I'm going to melt one and a half sticks

If you would be spraying our pan, we're going to make these

because see, it's Bubba's tiny key lime pies. So we're going to make little

we're going to use the little muffin tins, and I've got one and a half sticks of butter

because this butter is going to hold those cookie crumbs together, and we're going to bake them in the oven

Okay. And baking them in the oven helps them to, like, harden up a little bit

Right. All right. So just mix up that sugar and cookie crumbs together, Donna

Dessert makes me happy. I know it does me too. Love it

Love dessert. All right. I think our butter's melted. Okay. So I'm just going to drizzle that over

Nice. The chocolate and the sugar. I maybe should use a fork for this, you think

Okay, do it any way you want to. Yeah, that's not working too good

Yeah, I'm going to get a fork for this. I think it'd be easier. How about that

Yeah, thanks. Perfect. Look at all that. Oh, it smells good. It looks good

Okay, this is fun. Take a little bite. I love this. All right, so move this, Donna

Mm. Move our muffin tin. Oh, my gosh. Right up here. And one of us can load

Okay. And one of us can take our little press and press the crust into the shape of the little muffin tins

Okay. And we're going to use a tablespoon of crumbs to each little muffin tin

Oh, my gosh. Look how cute. Hello. That is so cute. And look at that

Isn't that great? Oh, my gosh. Perfect. It just forms it right into

It's perfect. I know. Just right into the shape of a pie crust

Wow. What a good idea. Yeah. I'm doing a lot of firsts today that I've never done

Are you? I've never done this. Well, this is just the greatest little trick in the whole world

Oh, it's so cute. This is so yummy. Taste it. Mmm. Mmm

Oh, it's so good. Yum. Buttery. Mm-hmm. All right, put that in the oven, because we're going to move on down, Donna

325, about eight minutes, y'all. And we gonna pull out these pork tenderloins I got for us Because they going to be delicious We doing a pecan crusted pork tenderloin crostini with strawberry balsamic sauce

How delicious does that sound? So we've gotten our fruits in today. We've had our mango and now we're going to get some strawberries

So just come down here, Donna. Okay. I've got two eggs right here. If you would scramble those up, please. Okay

And I'm going to pull our pork tenderloins out of the drawer. Look how delicious those look

I'm going to sit that right there. Great. And I'm going to come in here, and I'm going to mix one cup of breadcrumbs

And these are just store-bought breadcrumbs, and these are not seasoned. Okay

You know, I always buy the plain because I find sometimes the seasoned crumbs are too salty

and then you can't salt your food. Right. And you may not want to carry it the way that that's been seasoned

because we're going to have a nice little sweet flavor to this

Yeah, that'll be really nice. I'm going to add a fourth of a cup of brown sugar

and here's the secret ingredient. Look at these pecans. Oh, my. They have been through the food processor

How'd you do that, girl? Food processor, honey. That's beautiful. And I'm going to use about half of this

which will probably yield about a cup of these ground pecans. Oh, it's smelling

Mm-hmm. Nice. And a little salt. And pepper. A little pepper. All right, now you beat up your eggs

Put them in there. Okay. And I'm going to add... You want me to just roll these in the..

Yes, yes. And then I've got some ground red pepper, about a half a teaspoon

And that's going to give it just a little bitty bite. And those are two one-pound tenderloins, Donna

and I'm just going to mix it up with my hands to make sure it all gets mixed up good

And I've got a pan over here, Donna, that I've lined with tinfoil

Okay. And we're going to just lay it right there, girl, and I'm going to rub and roll this meat

in all those wonderful ingredients. That's beautiful, yeah. And you know, the thing I love about pork tenderloins

is you can have your entree done so quickly. So now that's going to go in this oven, y'all

We've got it preheated to 375 degrees in 18 or 20 minutes

We're going to have these pecan-encrusted, beautiful tenderloins that are going to melt in your mouth

That's beautiful. Coming up, a strawberry balsamic sauce and a herb-crusted cheese spread just perfect for our crostinis

That is delicious. And later, we're gonna finish up Uncle Bubba's Tiny Key Lime Pies

Dessert makes me happy. I know it does me too. So Donna and I are working on our entree for our meal today

our little garden soiree party we got going on. We got the tenderloin

in the oven. And tell everybody what you're fixing to make. I am going to make a topping for

a crostini that we're going to have with the pork. We're going to use

some thyme, fresh thyme, some fresh chives, some cream cheese, and some mayonnaise

This is going to be amazing because the cream cheese, mayonnaise, and these fresh herbs are going to be

fabulous with this pork. And I I am preparing two cups of diced fresh strawberries because I'm going to make the strawberry sauce to eat along with our pork

So you've got an eight ounce package of cream cheese at room temperature. Yes

Oh, you're going to add a little mayonnaise too. Yay. This party is looking better already

Now I'm getting my two cups of strawberries into my pot. And to my pot, I'm going to add two tablespoons of sugar and two tablespoons of a wonderful balsamic vinegar

Mmm, that smells so good. And then we're going to let this cook, Donna, for about five minutes

We're just going to let it reduce. Okay. Now I'm going to add the thyme

Okay. Two tablespoons of fresh thyme. Smells delicious. How about your chives

Not yet. Those will be easy. Okay. What else you got going in here

Um, salt and pepper. Okay. Yum

That's starting to reduce and thicken up. So while we're waiting on this to finish, why don't we come down here and make the filling

Okay. For our little key lime pies. Look at our little crust

they've baked off and they're nice and firm in there. All right, so what I'm gonna do

if you would open the can of sweetened condensed milk. Okay. I gonna separate three eggs because we just need the yolks Okay For this And y it not key lime season so we just using a bottled key lime juice that I picked up from the grocery store

A quarter of a cup of that. And here comes the eggs

Now I need the zest of two limes. Okay. Could you grab another rasp out of that drawer, Donna, and help me get this other one done

That would be great. Great. Get it? Great. Great. Great. Oh, it smells so good

Doesn't it smell delicious? We're going to make Bubba proud. So that's it now, except for our teaspoon of vanilla

You know what? Let's pour all this back in here, Donna. Okay

And I think it might be easier to pour. I'm almost afraid to load it

Okay, let's load, baby. Don't forget, at the end of the show, I'm going to have Donna put on what she was going to wear

So y'all can vote on it. So don't go anywhere. We're gonna put these in the oven

325 for about 12 minutes, 10 to 12 minutes. Y'all don't go anywhere

See Donna's outfit. Coming up, we put the finishing touches on our crostinis and mini key lime pies

Hey, y'all, welcome back. Donna, guess what? Our little key lime pies are ready

I'm going to take them out of the oven. Remember I told you that Donna brought this outfit over to wear

and I asked her not to, and I put something else on her. Well, now y'all are going to be the judges

Now, I have to tell y'all something. It is precious. But now it's boxy on her, isn't it, y'all

You're precious, but I think that brought it to you. So anyway, I've had fun teasing Donna

Well, let's finish up our pork tenderloin. I told y'all that I was going to thicken the strawberries, the sugar, and the balsamic vinegar

I used a fourth of a cup of chicken stock and two tablespoons of cornstarch, and I got that nice and thick

And Donna, you can start taking out our little pies. All right, now I'm going to start working on our pork tenderloin crostinis

Look at this pork tenderloin. Oh, my gosh. That's gorgeous. And y'all remember that they're encrusted with pecans

Mmm. Yum. Donna, how are you coming down there? Great. These are working really well

Oh, my goodness. This smells so good. Look at this. I love this

This is so adorable. Isn't it adorable? Yum. And don't you think it needs just a little dollop

A dollop. Of whipped cream. Absolutely. Yes. Oh, my goodness. This is so pretty

Beautiful. Now, I'm going to top these off with some lime zest and milk chocolate curls

I am so going to eat this right now. Well, let's eat it. Let's

Yeah, let's toast. Because life is short. Life is short. You know, they say eat the dessert first

Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. It is so good. Mmm. Mmm. Love that. I do, too

I love the chocolate with the key lime. Mmm-hmm. Well, we'll be back to them

Okay. All right. So let's get these underway. We've already toasted and buttered our bread

Now, all we're gonna do is put a little of that wonderful cream cheese that you did

Yum. And we're gonna put arugula. Pork. Pork. A little of our sauce, a little fresh berries, if you like

Yeah. There you go. And if you wanted to, Donna. Oh, a sprig of thyme

You could put a little sprig of thyme on it. But I don't have thyme for the thyme

All right, here we go. Yum, girl. I love cooking with you. To my friend, Donna

Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm-hmm. Oh, it's so good. Isn't it delicious

The cream cheese. Oh, it's so good. Mm-hmm. So, Donna, will you come back

You know I will. Folks just love you, did you know? I love cooking with you, girl

Love it. I love cooking with you, too. And until next time, Donna and I always send y'all love and best dishes from our kitchen to yours

Thank you so much for having me. Thank you, darling. Until next time

Mm-mm-mm-mm