Savannah Summer

It's summertime in Savannah, so Bobby and I are going to make a few of our summertime favorites

We're starting off with Creole shrimp tarts. Mmm, you're going to love that

And then we're going to move on to a super-sized blackened tilapia sandwich with a cilantro lime mayo

Mmm, mmm, mmm. And we make a dream come true for two aspiring bakers

when we whip up a vanilla pound cake with a black cherry sauce

Group hug! Why don't we do some summery-type dishes today

and share with our friends out there? Why don't we do shrimp Creole tarts

Since it's summertime and the shrimp are everywhere here in Savannah. Yes, yes, yes

I think this is an appropriate dish. What do you think? Michael goes off our dock, and he always comes up with shrimp when he casts off our dock

And there's nothing like a wild Georgia shrimp. Especially when you can get them right out of your backyard

I'm going to start out with some celery here, some smashed garlic, and some bell pepper

We're going to have to mince everything up really small, because you see they're going to end up in these little filo cups

I'll man your onion over here for you. We're going to saute it all together

Yeah, I've got some butter here that we're going to saute it in, and then I'm going to sprinkle about a tablespoon of flour over that, and that's going to help thicken it up because, you know, you don't want it thin or it'll run out of our little cups

I'm going to go ahead and get the garlic in the pan, okay? Okay. All right

And I like the looks of this onion, so it's ready when you're ready. We need a little bit of butter

I'm way ahead of you, Mom. I've got... Well, the butter's coming, don't you fear

But not before I get these onions in. All right, this is Creole, so we've got..

I'm going to put about two tablespoons of butter in there. Some of the usual suspects going with our pepper and our garlic

We've got a little Creole seasoning that we're going to have, Mom. Now, I'm going to chop up a couple of tablespoons of parsley

That trinity, you know, that they use in every dish that comes out of Louisiana

And again, we've got to get this stuff minced up really, really fine, because we're going into real small filo cups before we bake it

Yeah, because it's got to fit in those cups. Now I'm going to sprinkle a teaspoon of pigeon seasoning

Here comes the peppers. Okey-doke. Great. Smelling good. Got about maybe a dozen, maybe 21, 25-count shrimp right here

It's like a half a pound. What do you think? and I'm going to remove these tails

and I'm going to dice these shrimp up pretty small too. And down here, Bobby, I've got the topping

and I've already got it made, y'all, but you can go to foodnetwork.com and find out about this

Once we get everything in here, I'm going to add three-fourths of a cup of heavy cream

and about an ounce and a half of cream cheese. So I'm gonna go ahead and measure out my cream

There we go. Yeah, and Mom said I'm not exactly gonna dice these

I'm cutting them into just, you know, maybe getting five or six pieces out of each shrimp

Here, sonny boy, I will help you by taking some of these shrimp

Because I don't want our veggies to get, like, soggy. So in we go with our shrimps

We're going to cook that for a second. How's this smell? Smells great

Now this is only going to take us a couple of minutes to get this ready. And so now I'm just going to sprinkle our vegetables with one tablespoon of flour

And that's going to thicken this up. And stir them around. Yum

But you know what's going to kick it into next week? My cream cheese

Now, it says an ounce and a half. But you know, I think when it comes to something like that

my ounce and a half can be anything I want. Might be that whole eight-ounce block

So how does three sound to you? That was good to me. Won't be the first time we've modified for the better

Okie dokie. All right. as that cream cheese starts to melt. And in goes our heavy cream, three quarters of a cup

It looks and smells delicious. I just say. So we're just going to constantly stir that until it's nice and thick

Maybe five minutes. And I'm going to have to taste just a little bit. Maybe a little

It's pretty tasty. It really tasty I think that ready Mom to put in our filo cups Is it good It out of this world So what we want to do y is just fill up our cups

So, Bobby, I'm going to get our breadcrumbs. It's basically just plain breadcrumbs, parsley, a little butter, and a little creole seasoning to carry that flavoring on through

It's a simple topping. Yes. We're just going to sprinkle that on top, just like that, Bobby

So into the oven now, 400 degrees, for about 15, maybe 20 minutes

Right. Okay, sonny boy, these look teatotally like the bomb. Yes. Coming up next, it's time we taste that tart

You need a plate for these? No. And then we grill up blackened tilapia sandwiches

And later, we make one of my favorite desserts, a vanilla pound cake with a black cherry sauce

The shrimp Creole tarts are ready. Yum. And they smell fantastic, Mama

Don't they smell delicious, son? Just set them right down there, son

All you really wanted to do was just kind of get your breadcrumbs to a golden brown

That's right. They were good. And that's exactly what we've done. You need a plate for these

No. No! Mm. Mm-mm. Mm. You're going to love that. I'm not talking to you

You're going to love it. Incredible, Bobby. Well, let's get on with our tilapia sandwiches

These are going to be so quick, so easy, and so wonderful, y'all

Bobby, I'm going to be mixing up the ingredients for our blackening seasoning

I'm just going to spray our grill. Okay. Because we don't want our fish sticking

I'll tell you what I'll do. Sticking. Before I make the cilantro mayo, I'm going to go ahead and butter these fish

All right. Yes, I did say I'm going to butter these fish. Now, I'm going to make up a dry rub for these, and I'm going to use two tablespoons of ground thyme

I'm going to use two teaspoons of onion powder and one teaspoon of garlic powder

And for a little bite-bite, I'm going to use a fourth of a teaspoon of ground red pepper

So there we go. I'm just going to toss that all around

Okay, that's mixed up pretty good. Now, I'm going to add a fourth of a cup of paprika

And that's a nice blackening season that we've got going on. And I've got this fish butter

Are you ready for it? I am so ready, son. All right. I've got some wonderful fresh rolls here, and I'm just going to butter them because I'm going to stick these on our grill

All right, now Bobby has passed me his buttered fish. I'm just going to dredge it in our blackening

All right, Bobby. Mm-hmm? I want to make sure that our blackening does not stick

I'm going to put just a little olive oil. I love tilapia because it's so mild, and I've said it a million times when I'm with you, but it's so easy to cook

And it's such a nice, mild flavor. Yes. A farm-raised fish. It's a really nice, light, white fish

Mmm, so mild. Don't have a lot of competing flavors going on, y'all, in your fish

You ready for the last piece? Yes, son. I got enough blackening for one more

Here we go. While we're cooking that fish, I want to make a really nice cilantro and lime mayonnaise

That sounds heavenly, son. Very, very basic. It starts with a cup of mayonnaise

Okay, son. I'm going to juice this lime right into it. Now, I'm going to turn our heat back up now because our griddle has cooled off, putting that cold fish on it

So, you got mayonnaise, lime juice, and cilantro, and that's it. Maybe a little salt and pepper to taste

Yeah. Sounds scrumptious, son. and we're gonna do about four minutes per side

on our tilapia. We want it cooked, y'all, just until that transparent look has disappeared

Our fresh cilantro. Bobby, I think I'm gonna go ahead and turn our first piece that went on the grill

Look, look, look. Quarter cup of fresh chopped cilantro and a little bit of salt and pepper to taste here

That's gonna be so good with this tilapia. It's going to be great on that fish

All right, son, I'm going to turn my next one. Doesn't that look fabulous, Bobby? Perfect

Mmm. Is it good? Do you like it? Love the lime. All right, our buttered rolls I'm just going to put down right there and heat those up

I mean and this fish is almost ready son All right now tell me what you want on yours I want some of the mayo the lime cilantro mayo Okay okay And definitely some of the fresh mango salsa

There's something about fresh vegetables with fish that I just love. That's very good

There is purple onion in there, fresh mango, tomato, maybe a little garlic, and some simple little spices

All right, I'm going to start putting your sandwich together for you

but you can get the complete recipe for that at foodnetwork.com. All right

Goodness gracious. A hecko sandwich. There is your sandwich, son. Thank you so much

That is a man's sandwich. All right, now for mine, son, now I'm going to serve... Mm-mm-mm-mm. Mm-mm-mm-mm. Mm-mm-mm-mm

I'm going to put my salsa on the side and eat it

like a little coleslaw. Mm. Oh my gosh. I'm going to take these off the griddle

So good. My sandwich is becoming a mess. Come back, because I'm going to work on my sandwich while we're gone

Coming up next, Bobby always loves a good practical joke. Bobby! And later, two very special boys stop by to give me a hand with our black cherry sauce

Well, this is a fresh vanilla bean pound cake Bobby and I are fixing to make

Now, we're going to start by creaming together two sticks of butter at room temperature, three cups of sugar, son

So while Bobby's doing that, I had six eggs that we're going to separate

And we're going to use the whites and the yellow. Two sticks

One cup, two sticks. Yes. but these are going in at different times, y'all

So this one last egg. And while Bobby is creaming the butter and the sugar together

I'm gonna be sifting our cake flour, y'all. I'm gonna start with three cups of cake flour

a half a teaspoon of baking soda, and a fourth of a teaspoon of salt

Bobby, if you'll be doing your vanilla bean while I'm sifting the flour, please

So I'm going to take my spatula and just turn our flour, baking soda, and salt

And this is what it looks like, the inside. Yes, look at that. My goodness

Straight vanilla bean. Smells incredible. Now I can just hit it with the side of my hand

All right, so I'm going to measure this out. One cup of sour cream. Well, I would turn that up, son, and cream it just a little bit more at a little bit higher speed

And I'm going to put our sour cream in this bowl. All right, now while you're creaming away, Bobby, I'm just going to beat our egg whites until they're kind of frothy

And this will be one of the last steps that we do before we pour our batter into our bundt pan

pan, we're just going to fold these egg whites in. All right, Bobby. I am going to now slip you

in one egg yolk at the time. All right, ready for another one

What's the reason behind only doing one egg at a time like that? It gives it time

to build up the air. I think most guys, we would just pick that up

and just dump all of them in at the same time. It's a good chance. That's what y'all might do. Very good chance of that

Turn it up a little bit higher, son. All right, let's add the last egg

Now, the next step for us is to add our flour with our sour cream

And we're going to alternate those two ingredients, y'all. And we're going to start with flour and end with flour

All right, Bobby, now we can turn that down, son. There you go

All right, so we're going to start with flour. Maybe a big tablespoon of sour cream

Mm-hmm. Perfect. All right, now finally I'm going to add the last of it

And then I've got the last of the flour. Okay. You can turn it up one more speed

to stop your beating process. Turn that all the way to your lowest speed, please

on the mixer, and then unlock your mixer, and then lift that up

and let your batter slowly release itself. Oh, I still want to turn this on high right now

Oh I know you do son I know you dying to turn it on Whoa Bobby You little devil All right now what I want you to do is take these

Oh, excuse me. You got me back. Got your back. What I want you to do is take these egg whites and fold them into our batter

All right. And you know what I mean when I'm telling you to fold. I do

Hold the bowl for me while I dip. Okay. Bobby, I know you remember I got a call from Oprah

Yes, ma'am. Telling me that she would like for me to do a surprise drop-in on her show for this young man that had lost his twin brother to cancer

And it turned out that I was his favorite one on Food Network, and he would love it if he could meet me

And as a surprise to this young man, I walk out on stage

I immediately fell in love with him and asked him if he would come to Savannah and see us

Now that we've got it in the pan, we're using a cup of slivered almonds

that we're going to just pour right on top of that batter. we're gonna put our pound cake in a 325 degree oven for an hour and 15 minutes y'all coming up

next these two young bakers can't wait to dig into this pound cake y'all y'all don't wait on me

don't worry if you won't Guess who I'm in here in the kitchen with

This is my friend Aaron. And Aaron is the one that lost his twin brother

But you know what? Aaron's a very lucky guy. He has another older brother

And this is Bryce, y'all. Bryce is down there helping Bobby. They're going to take our cake out of the pan and get us some plates

So guess what? You and I gonna eat cake, buddy. So, Erin, catch me up, baby

When I was with you on the Oprah show, you were baking cookies, taking cookie orders every week

So how many different kinds of cookies you make, son? Chocolate chip, chocolate gooey butter, oatmeal raisin, crispy oatmeal, and butterscotch chip

That sounds good to me, son. Earlier in the day, Bobby and I made a wonderful, fresh vanilla bean pound cake

So what you and I are gonna do is make a black cherry sauce

Alright, I've got two tablespoons of sugar, Erin. And I'm gonna add one tablespoon of cornstarch

Erin has got our zest up. Now our flour and our cornstarch, you wanna just take your whisk and whisk that together

And I'm going to be measuring out a half a cup of black cherry juice, okay

This is going to get thick on us very quick. See how thick it's getting

All right, now I'm going to add one package. And this looks like about two cups of a black cherry

Look at that. Stick your finger down in there and taste that. That's going to be hot

Well, he's got tough hands. He's a baker. Don't go deep. That's a good taste

It's like cranberry juice. Yes, it does. So see, don't ever say you don't like something until you try it

Right, Bryce? All right, well, you did that part. Now Bryce and I are going to do the cool part. We're ready to take this pound cake out of the pan, and there's only one way to do that

Bryce told me he's never done it before, so this is going to be the first time. You ready? Okay. I'm going to turn up the heat, so don't think you can quit stirring, okay

Let's get that. Because when we added our cherries, there was still a lot of juice in it, so now we've got to let that tighten up

Yep. Ready? Set. Yay! Good job, Bryce. Bryce, you're the man

Good job. Y'all don't wait on me

Mmm, we're not. Don't worry, we won't. Don't worry. Too good. Growing boys down here are eating

You like it, Bryce? I love it. Good. Well, this is pure yummy

Y'all are precious to my eyeballs. Nice to meet you guys. And I'm so glad that y'all made it to Savannah

So, if y'all don't mind coming around here on either side of me

And Bobby, you come on in because before we go, I want a great big group hug before we have to tell everybody that we wish them love and best dishes from our kitchen to theirs

Group hug! Bye