Picnic in the Park

Hey y'all, I'm Paula Deen, and Michael and I can't think of a better way to enjoy the outdoors

than packing up a picnic lunch and heading straight to the park. And today I'd like to

share with y'all what I feel like is some simple recipes that's sure to help make your outdoor

dining a major hit. And I'm going to share with y'all today Gussie's fried chicken

and I'm going to just pour over the sweetest pecan honey glaze, and then I'm going to show

an old southern classic, a pimento cheese spread. And then I'm going to make a delicious carrot salad

And for dessert, one of Michael's favorite, peanut butter cupcakes. So y'all gather up your family and friends

because today, we're going on a picnic. Take care

One of the favorite things to do here in Savannah is go have a picnic in the park

Well, that's what today's theme is about. It's about picnics. So I'm going to show you a few things that work so well for taking food off to eat on the ground and also for tailgates

The first thing I'm going to start with is a pimento cheese. And this is so good, so simple

It works great as a dip or a sandwich. So no southern picnic is the same without a pimento cheese

Now I've started with sharp grated cheddar. I've got some white cheddar

And I'm going to add those two together. And I'm going to add pepper. I really, really like what the pepper does to the pimento cheese

I'm going to add a good bit of this. All right. Now I'm going to add a little salt

and I'm not going to add a whole bunch because I'm fixing to add some diced pimentas

along with the juice and these have a lot of salt in them

so you want to make sure that you don't over salt your pimento and cheese

And now my favorite binder in the whole world is a half cup of mayonnaise

I'm just going to mix this up But this is so good

All right, I'm just going to pile this up. And you can see that I've got scoopable corn chips

that are just divine dipped down in this pimento cheese. And then I've got white bread for those that want to make a sandwich

I just love it this way. You can eat it with a cracker, but the corn chips are just perfect for it

Now, I want to show y'all a little salad I hadn't made, and it seems like 100 years

It's called Copper Pennies. It got its name because it looks like a brand-new penny

And rather than just taking strips of carrots to a picnic, this is a great way to have that wonderful sweet vegetable

Now, I've got some chopped right here. I'm gonna just finish that off

Needed a couple of more. And I'm gonna slice them kind of thin

And you'll want to get them cut all the same size so that they'll cook evenly

All right. I'm gonna take these carrots and I'm gonna toss them into the boiling water

that's had a little salt put in it. And I'm gonna cook these for about five minutes

I don't want them to cook very long. I don't want them like mush

All right, so I'm going to let these come back to a bowl. And while those are cooking, I'm going to come over here in this other pot

and I'm going to make the marinade that these wonderful sweet little carrots are going in

I'm going to start with a vegetable oil. This is about a cup of oil

and some sugar. This is about a cup of sugar. And some vinegar

See, this is about a cup of vinegar. And I'm gonna bring this to a bowl

and let that sugar dissolve in there. I'm gonna add a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce

a teaspoon of salt, a teaspoon of dried mustard, and a teaspoon of black pepper

I just gonna mix this up Now I got one more ingredient to add to it and that a can of tomato soup

And that's going to turn that a pretty kind of coppery color

Okay, our carrots are ready. I'm going to take these over here and strain them. If I can do this without disturbing Gertie

Don't mind me, girl. Just don't expect me to buy you any dog biscuits when the check comes in

All right. All right, I've drained those good. Now I'm just going to toss them back in the bowl

I love this spatula. We just all match an orange spatula, orange carrots, orange shirt, orange lipstick

And it was all a pure accident. All right, now I'm going to take our marinade and pour that over our carrots

I'm going to dump in some diced green peppers and some sliced onion

And I'm going to put this in the refrigerator and let all those flavors marry together

This will last in your refrigerator for up to six weeks. Isn't that great

All right, so I'm going to just put this in the refrigerator. And when we come back, it's Gussie's fried chicken with a pecan glaze on it

You know we'll just put sugar on anything, won't we? Well, I know y'all are probably thinking

Now, Paula, you are the only person I know that can take fattening food and make it even more fattening

Well, I have to tell y'all, this is not my recipe that I'm making, so don't hold me responsible for this one

This is called Gussie's Pecan Glazed Chicken, and y'all know my name ain't Gussie

I'm just going to share the recipe with y'all and show you how to cook it. All right, I've got my chicken that's been washed and cleaned real good

Now I'm going to just salt and pepper my chicken. All right, and I've got some garlic powder, and that's garlic powder, not salt

Now I've got two eggs here that I'm going to just beat up, and I'm gonna just toss that over the chicken

just like that. Just tossing, tossing, tossing. And you could do this part earlier in the day

and stick him back in the refrigerator. All right, let me give my hands a wash, y'all

Because between the eggs and the chicken, it feels pretty yucky. Okay, I've got some paper sacks here that we're going to put some self-rising flour in

They've been double-bagged

And I'm going to start with our dark meat first. First, I'm going to just throw it over in here, just a few pieces at a time

I'm going to grab that top real good, and hold it and just shake my chicken in there

And then I've got another bag here. I'm going to do the same thing with the other pieces

I know the Pirates House for years had this particular chicken on their menu

The Pirates House is located in the historic district right off the river there in Savannah

and it was called the Pirates' House because that's where the pirates hung out

It may very well be the oldest structure in Savannah. I can't quite remember my history on that

But people love to visit the Pirates' House when they come to Savannah

because it's such a historical place. All right Gonna dig down in here and get our chicken

and I'm going to drop it in deep fat. I had my oil up to 375 degrees

It's going to cool down some when I put the cold chicken in there. All right

And now Gussie tells us to put the lid on the pot

Don't close it completely. Crack it so that steam can escape, and our chicken's going to get really moist

and almost stay kind of soft. And while that's frying, why don't I pull out that copper penny salad that I made earlier

And let's see how it turned out. Like I said, it's been years since I made this

and this is just a nice different way to eat them this kind of thing

as those other flavors go into that carrot it'll just get better and better mmm

The tomato soup is such a nice flavor for those carrots. This kind of salad you could package in the little throwaway containers

that you get from the grocery store. You can fill it full of your foods. They stack very nicely

And when you're done eating, throw them away and you have nothing to haul home

Well, let's step down here and see how Gussie's fried chicken's going

Smells like fried chicken. It's very close to being ready

I tell you what, y'all go fix you something to drink. By the time you get settled back in

the chicken's gonna be ready, and I'm gonna be making some chocolate peanut butter cupcakes

that are perfect for any picnic. You're not gonna want to miss that one

miss that one, so I'll see y'all in a few minutes. Alright, y'all

The chicken's ready. Gonna pull it out. Ooh, it just feels like just as light

as a feather. I'm just gonna let that drain on that paper towel for a minute

because I'm gonna show y'all Gussie's honey pecan glaze next. All right, so while that's draining, I'm gonna come over here

and y'all, please don't write or call me about this one, because it's not mine

I've got two sticks of butter, like Gussie told me to do

I've got a half a cup of honey that I'm gonna add to that butter

and now I'm going to add a cup of pecans and I'm going to mix that all together

and let it simmer for about 10 minutes and then I'm going to come over here

and I'm going to put our chicken on our platter. You better get back here

That bird was trying to fly away from me. That looks pretty delicious

Alright, I'm gonna turn this off because this one has been cooking for about ten minutes

I'm just gonna stir that together real well. And then I'm gonna come over here, y'all

I'm gonna ladle this over our fried chicken. That looks pretty delicious

All right. Let's come on down here to, would you believe it

a less fattening dish than that one? And it's peanut butter brownie cupcakes

Now, I'm using just an ordinary brownie mix that you buy at the grocery store

I'm going to make it per the box directions, which is oil

water, And for a cake like brownie, three eggs

Now I'm going to beat this by hand about fifty strokes. These don't have to be smooth

Your batter will still appear a little lumpy. Now I've taken my muffin tins and I've lined them with a paper liner

I really prefer my cupcakes to have a liner. They just easier to transport easier to eat So I gonna put about half the batter in

All right. Now I'm going to come in here in the center of these brownies

with some peanut butter chips, and I'm just going to put a layer of those right on top of that batter

All right, so now I'm going to come back in here now. and top them with another spoon of batter

All right, I'm just going to spread that batter around those chips just like that

And I'm gonna put these in a 350 degree preheated oven and then bake them for about 18 to 20 minutes

And I've got another pan that's ready in this other oven. Oh, you can see how delicious those look

Don't they look yummy? All right, now, you know, I told y'all I have never eaten Gussie's chicken

I've never cooked it this way, so I can't hardly wait to sample it

Oh, well, as it turned out, I've gotten a wing, and the wing happens to be one of my eight favorite pieces on a chicken

How's that? Look at that cupcake, y'all. All right, here we go

It's really good. This is really, really good, Gussie

I like it. For once in a while, a change, it's nice

All right, now, you don't wait to see what our little cupcakes look like

And you can see our peanut butter morsels in there. Mmm. Oh, they're so good

And so is the chicken, y'all. When we come back, I'm going to be showing y'all some tips

to make some wonderful, creamy, fruity butters that are a nice treat at a picnic

The tip I want to share with y'all today is really easy and simple and tasty

I'm making a fruit butter, but you know what? Butter doesn't have a thing to do with this fruit butter

I think you'll love this one when you're going on a picnic. It'll give you an extra surprise

I'm going to take equal parts of water and sugar. And I'm going to boil this up, and I'm going to make a simple syrup

And then I'm going to add the fruit of my choice. I can use a dried fruit like the apricots that you get at the grocery store

You can use fresh products, or you can use frozen. Now I'm gonna add frozen blueberries to these

and I'm gonna just let them cook until they're thickened. You can always puree this and strain it

or if you like a more preserved type butter, then you can just cool it and pack it the way I've done these

I have a wonderful apricot butter here, a blueberry, a strawberry, and a store-bought chocolate for those that don't like fruits

This is gonna be great tucked in my picnic basket, along with some breads and some crackers

and they're gonna eat it up. You know, things taste so good to me

when you eat them with your family out of doors. I don't know what it is

I think you'll love these recipes. Gussie's pecan honey glazed fried chicken is over the top

The copper pennies are perfect for a salad. The pimento cheese you're gonna love

And the peanut butter brownie cupcakes are so, so good. And if you really want to make those illegal, put a little chocolate glaze on them

And don't forget to pack up your fruit butter. That has nothing to do with butter

It looks like Gertie's getting anxious. She's ready for us to leave to go on our picnic today

So, until next time, y'all, I send you love and best dishes from my kitchen to yours

you