Savor the Sunset

Y'all, here in the kitchen of Best Dishes

I always try to have something easy, delicious, and beautiful to look at

And today, Bobby's here to help me with this fun and light meal. First up, y'all, an Italian salad with a southern spin

It's a grilled southern panzanella salad. This is gorgeous. Then, it's baked tilapia with tomato and basil

And this is going to be the star of the show. And we're serving it up with a side of honey balsamic green beans

Mmm, don't you love the smell? And finally, a cool dessert, a frozen pineapple cream pie

I just love, love, love pretty food. Bobby and I get to witness so many beautiful sunsets here in Savannah living on the water, don't we, son

We do. Oh, my goodness. So today, we're going to prepare a meal that we can eat and watch the sunset

We're going to savor the sunset today. And we're going to start off with a grilled southern panzanella salad

But this is our take on a panzanella salad, y'all. So let's get started

Now, Bobby's chopping up a green and red pepper, a zucchini, and two yellow squash

So I have made a cornbread recipe, y'all. You can go to FoodNetwork.com and obtain this recipe

Now, I have cooked this earlier and kind of let it dry out because this is going inside a salad

Now, I'm cutting this in the shape of croutons. So I'm going to kind of just cut those in cubes

And in the meantime, Bobby... I'm doing what I do best. You know, I really, really learned to love cornbread growing up

You always made the best. Oh, wasn't it good? You and Grandma Paul love me some cornbread

Mm-hmm, me too. If you would pass me the cookie sheet, please

I'm just going to pile all these cubes of cornbread now onto our baking sheet

Okay. You know, Mama, a real Italian pans and aloe would be made with a bunch of just torn up Italian bread

We're going to do it southern style and use cornbread. Yes, like I said, this is our take

Because there's so many different ways to do things. You know, one of my favorite sayings is, there's more ways to skin a cat

And I have a few tablespoons of butter that I'm just going to drizzle over it

I have a cat, and I would never skin it. You have a brand new cat

Well, she's not brand new. She's year old. You know, another rescue. She's new to you, though

She's new to me, yes, and her name is Pumpkin, and she's the most beautiful cat

Yeah, what's she think about all them dogs? She talks to me. At first, she hated them

Imagine that. Bodine scared the ever-loving bejeeze out of her. And Bodine's this big

But his bark is so bad. So she hid in the rafters in the attic for five days

Oh, I was up there and I saw her just staring into that birdcage. Listen, she sits there looking into the birdhouse

And you can just almost see the drool, you know, hanging down. So, son, this goes in the oven, y'all

400 degrees for about 15 minutes. It is a wild kingdom at your house

It is. It's a menagerie, y'all. It is a menagerie. And Michael and I love it

And we got the chickens, and we got the finches, we got the parakeets, we got the blue and gold macaw, we got the cat, and we got the dogs

And you got Michael. Yes. The biggest animal of them all. And we got the coys, and we got the catfish, and we got the brim

Great. And I just love it. Just call me Ellie Mae. Good grief

Marlon Perkins. I want to be Ellie Mae. All right, Bobby. So let's get on with this salad

Now, we're heating up the grill, y'all, because we're going to grill off the vegetables

And I'm just cutting them sort of just into thin little strips here. Yes, yes. The zucchini and the squash I'm going to do into just like disc

Okay, okay. Shapes. So you want me to... Help me. Help ya, help ya

And my garlic. I got to mince my garlic. We're going to toss that in with our veggies, Bobby

Mm-hmm. Now, I'm going to take our onion, and I'm going to cut it in pretty thick slabs

and we're going to grill this off as well. Okay, there we go

Let me get me a little spray, and I'm going to spray our grill as an added protection

Okey-dokey. Now, we just want to toss them in some olive oil

Mm-hmm. A little olive oil on our onions. A little salt and pepper, son

This looks delicious, y'all. It does. In goes our garlic. Yeah. And now you can just get it right on the grill, son

So that is looking delicious, Bobby. I man the grill if you would like to start on the dressing for our panzanella salad All right I do it I make a nice light vinaigrette Okay All right I going to eyeball this but about three tablespoons of olive oil Okay A tablespoon of mustard

and I'm going to juice this whole lemon. Now, if you wanted to, y'all, you could pop that

in the microwave for about 15 seconds. That helps it to really soften up. You want me to

be chopping your parsley? Sure. Just a couple of tablespoons. Maybe a little salt and pepper

to taste. Okie doke. You want it in your... Yes, ma'am. There we go

There you go. Now I'll get your two tablespoons of mayonnaise for you

After all, we are doing this southern style. Now look how pretty that looks

son. Beautiful. Alright, now let's go in for the taste test. Let's see what

we got. I expect it's gonna be good. Taste that, son. And that would be good on just about anything

Oh, my God. So, Bobby, these are looking good, son. And now I can finally scoot them over

And I'm going to be adding our slabs of onion to the grill now

And I want to keep these kind of whole. We're going to take a quick break

So we'll see y'all back in just a second. Coming up, we build our panzanella salad

Lordy, Lordy, Miss Claudia. That looks really great. Then I got a side that's not only sweet and tangy

simple, gorgeous, delicious, healthy. And later, look how beautiful this looks, y'all

And it tastes divine, too. So welcome back, y'all. Mom and I are in the kitchen right now making a panzanella

which is an Italian dish, but we're doing it southern style. So this is going to be sort of a coastal Georgia panzanella

which Pantonella translates, I don't know if you know, literally into bread in between

Honey, I can barely speak English, much less Italian. That's the truth, Ruth. That's the truth, Ruth

This is going to be really, really good. I can feel it

If you would pass me a tray of croutons, I'm just going to mix all of this together

so that we have bread in between. That's right. And beautiful grilled vegetables

and we're going to add one last thing, and that's going to be tomatoes. So the fruit we're going to leave raw and fresh, and the vegetables grilled

Two Roma tomatoes I've chopped here. Look at this, y'all. That looks very, very good

How gorgeous is that? Please tell me. Very. Very, very, very. You want to chop me up a little parsley, son? Sure

Just for a bright green color. Thank you. You can just kind of rough chop that. Okay

This looks incredible. It does. And I tasted those grilled vegetables, and they are perfect

Okay, son, that'll do. Just a little bit to punch up the dish

Here we go. Because we got a lot of parsley in here, don't we? Look, y'all

I think that should do it. This is gorgeous. All right, son

I'm going to pile this on your plate so we can taste it

Lordy, Lordy, Miss Claudia. That looks really great. This is perfectly fabulous

Oh, wow. So good. Look at that. It looks very beautiful, very Italian

Tastes very southern with the cornbread. You ready to make some fish to go with it? Mm-hmm. Dadgum sure am

Okay, well, let's finish this meal. Okay, that's very good. Now, we're moving on to baked tilapia with tomato and basil

What we're going to start with is two 8- or 10-ounce pieces of tilapia. And I'm going to spray a little pan coating into this casserole dish

Okay. So our fish doesn't stick. In goes the fish. Going to take a little olive oil

and I'm going to chop up two tablespoons of garlic, one for the fish, and one for our recipe later

I love tilapia. Tilapia is a farm-raised fish, y'all, and it's a very nice, mild white fish

Mm-hmm. And it's very reasonably priced, y'all, and it will hold together

It won't flake and come apart on you. Right. All right, and to the tilapia, I'm adding some fresh basil right on top

Oh, yum. A little salt and pepper. About a teaspoon of onion powder right on top

Okay, yes. That's going to enhance its flavor, y'all. Along with that teaspoon of fresh oregano that you're chopping up

Yum. And then, Mama, we're going to add your garlic. Okie dokie

Look how beautiful this looks, y'all. Very simple, clean dish. Simple flavors

And while you're finishing up our fish, Bobby, I'm just going to move on to our next dish

All right, well, I've got our pan hot and ready, so I'm going to put in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil

because I making a honey balsamic green bean Now these green beans have been blanched off y You just put these in boiling water and quickly put them in an ice bath a water bath

to stop them from cooking. And it'll bring out that beautiful green color

of the green beans, and it will keep them crisp. Love a green bean

All right, son, I'm gonna go ahead and get started. This is gorgeous

Beautiful. Now, Bobby's putting two thick slices of beefsteak tomato on top of our tilapia and sprinkling it with a little bit of salt

Yum. All right, so in go my green beans. Into the oven, 400 degrees for about 20 or 25 minutes, and this is going to be the star of the show

Oh, my gosh, it looks fabulous. Well, I've got my green beans in my pan

Now I'm going to add that garlic that I minced up. You know, garlic just goes with everything, y'all

I'm going to take my tongs now and just keep those green beans and that garlic moving around in that olive oil

Do we need to add anything? Yes. If you would, add a little salt and pepper to it

And you know what? You got your onion powder sitting there. Mm-hmm

Add a little bit to it? Why not? All right. So that will just enhance the flavor of these

I'm gonna put about a tablespoon of balsamic on them Mmm Don't you love the smell

of balsamic That's about a tablespoon and a little squirt of honey

about a teaspoon I probably did a little bit more y'all So when you come back these will be ready

Coming up it's time to dig into this light and lively meal

I can eat that morning, noon and night And later you better

hurry back, y'all. All right, Chef. Come on! Because I'm making the perfect pineapple pie

Ooh, those look nice and crisp and delicious. Don't they look nice? And you know what

Fish is ready. Great. I'm going to get us a little lemon ready

for that fish. Oh, Bobby. Wonderful, don't you? Tremendous, tremendous, tremendous. All right

What you say? I think you want to, Let's put a little lemon juice on those before we plate them

Oh, okay. Well, I tell you what. Well, after we plate them. There you go

Ah, that looks good. How about that? Does that suit you good

It does. Oh, my goodness. Look at that. Oh, wow, that looks good

Look how gorgeous. Bobby, the fish smells fabulous. It does. That's your recipe

The only thing that's missing is maybe a little pat of butter right on top. I can fix that

Look how beautiful. Simple, gorgeous, delicious, healthy, earthy. What can I say

It so reminds me of my son. The fish is cooked perfectly

Oh, wow. So good. And your green bean? Bobby. They're great. I love the crispness of them

Because, you know, a green bean in the South can really be soggy and greasy if you do it right

Yes, they can. If you have any luck at all that day

But this is a nice change. Mmm. Yummy. Bistake tomato. Mmm. This is my kind of meal right here

I could eat that morning, noon, and night. I know. Mmm. Well, this is all well and good and healthy

Mmm-hmm. I love the honey on the green beans, y'all. Let's make something fattening. Okay

I'll race you Come on I'm coming If you say something about making something sweet

Son, I'll beat you I'll beat you to the race Pretty quick This is my frozen pineapple cream pie, y'all

So this is real easy to make, y'all The process is gonna be about 20 minutes

From start to finish On the filling for our pie Well, I don't make a bunch of pies, so help me help you

I know you don't And I'm going to help you out. I've got one package of a plain gelatin

Right. If you put a fourth of a cup of cold water in there and dissolve your gelatin pack

Uh-huh. You got a 20-ounce can of pineapple and heavy syrup. Right

If you'd pop that and just pour it into our bowl that we have here over our boiling water

All right. I've got four eggs and I need four yolks. So I'm just going to separate these

and I'm going to put the egg whites in the refrigerator and save them. When I'm scrambling eggs for breakfast

I can just add those to my eggs and use them that way, or I can..

Now you want your crushed pineapple in? Maybe I can make another pie tomorrow and use those for my reign

Oh, I bet you can. I bet I can, too. So the crushed pineapple goes into the double boiler

Yes, juice in all, son, and then about a teaspoon of lemon juice, please

Okay. Now to my yolks y I going to add a third of a cup of sugar Now I just going to take my yolks with that sugar and I just going to beat those up

and this is going to give this a very custardy feel, which I love me some custard pie, y'all

And now I'm going to just add that to our pineapple. Mm

Now, we're going to let this cook and let it thicken up

And that gelatin's going to bring it together, right? Yes, exactly. You want to let this cook down some before you add your gelatin

And for things like this, for pies and all, they recommend that you stay away from fresh pineapple

It just doesn't work as well as your canned pineapple. It has cooked down, and it's getting a little thick because of our egg yolks

Nice. Now we're going to add here. I'll help you out, son, and stick that spatula in it

That'll get it out easier than a whisk. So what we're going to do, Bobby, is take that bowl out of that hot water

and sit it on the counter, and we're going to let this cool for about 30 minutes

We've got one more step to go with this pie before we finish

and we'll do that in like two minutes. Two more steps. Two more steps

There's going to be an eating step. Oh, that's right. We got the eating step. I forgot. Coming up, Bobby gets this pie on Shook Up

Thank you, Mama Ha ha ha ha ha ha Okie doke, we're ready to finish this pie

Alright, can I help? Take this out of my hand Why don't you whip our heavy cream

Now add, put that in there This is gonna be the whole pie? Yeah, it's two cups, son

So I'm gonna add a third of a cup of sugar And if you just beat that till it's stiff

Okay. But not butter. Okie do. And I'm going to be working on our garnishes

That looks like it's coming along nicely. Thank you, Mama. That's my son, Elvis

Or maybe his name is Nelvis. But not Elvis. Oh, my gosh

Oh, it's absurd. That's funny, Bobby. I don't care who you are

You know, son, that looks very, very good. I'd stop right there. And you can see that this has gotten almost gelatinous now that it's cooled

So we're just going to take this. We're going to add the whipped cream to the pineapple or the pineapple to the whipped cream

It doesn't matter. We're just going to fold all of that in

You go under and over. Under and over. You don't want to beat this because you don't want to let the air out of that cream that you just whipped

You'll notice that we have baked off our crust in a deep dish pie because this filling, it's a lot of filling

It is. So we're just going to pile this into our pie shell

And doesn't this look like a fabulous kind of sweet, kind of tarty pie? Yum

So we're just gonna cover this pie, put it in the freezer until it's solid

four to six hours, or even better, you know, make it the day before you wanna serve it

All right, son, I've got our napkins and our plates ready. I've got our garnishes that we need for our gorgeous pie

I think it's red. So just sit that puppy right there, son. Beautiful

So here we go. go. I'm dipping my knife into some warm water, y'all, and that's gonna help me

slice this pie. See how that just helped me slide through there

Now I'm gonna top our pie with fresh whipped cream, sprigs of mint, and a wedge

of fresh pineapple. I just love, love, love, love, love pretty food

Is this just dried fruit? This is just dried fruit, son, that I'm garnishing our pie with

How gorgeous is that? Very gorgeous. You could not ask for a more beautiful pie

See, I just love the mint on it. I just think that's scrumptiously beautiful

I'm going to go back here and get me a little whipped cream. Mmm

It's very, very good. Mmm. Mmm. Perfect dessert to serve along with fish

When you want to feed somebody a light summer meal, the candied fruit just gives it an extra little kick

We got to tell everybody, love and best dishes. Let's take our pie out and watch the sunset, okay

Let's go. Mmm. Yum, yum Let's go son That was great Taste that crust, it's delicious