Springin' In

Hey, y'all

Wait until you see who I've got in my kitchen this morning. I have got a top chef with me, y'all

Today, I'm getting a star treatment because my friend Carla Hall is here

to make me chicken fried lamb with creamy grits. I mean, I'm just drooling

And then next, it's a side of asparagus with a creamy mustard sauce

Then a sweet and tart lemon coconut macaron. It's the yummy of the yummy

And finally, we wash it all down with a sweet lemon tea

I love it! Hello, dear. Hello, Paula. How are you? I'm good

It's such an honor to be here. Oh, well, I'm delighted to have you. Now, Carla has got a story to tell, y'all

And you know, it reminds me kind of of my story. But you know what, Paula

I'm going to tell my story. Mm-hmm. And you know what? I'm going to take care of you today

I'm a caterer. You sit down. We'll chat. And I'll do everything

So I'm going to grab a stool for you. And you just sit. I know

In your own kitchen. Be a guest in your own kitchen. Yeah. Carla, you couldn't have picked a better day

Tell everybody what you're making me. Chicken fried lamb with creamy grits

You know, I love grits. We're both Southern girls. Yeah, I just found out she's from Nashville, Tennessee, y'all

Southern roots. Yes, Southern roots. And you were a model. Yes, I was a model

I was kind of a model. Well, I modeled a little in my high school days

You know, I never got paid for anything, but. Well, I barely got paid. So I'm going to put in one and a half cups of grits

but I'm starting them from cold. You cook your grits from cold? You know, it depends

I do sometimes do them straight from cold, just like you're doing now

You know, it just depends on what kind of mood I'm in, Carla. I'm in the cold mood

I'm gonna put two and a half cups of veggie stock in there and this is a beautiful stock it's so rich

and one and a half cups of whole milk we're not cutting any corners the reason I'm starting from

cold is because I love creamy creamy I was gonna say if you start from cold y'all it will make for

a creamier uh griette so I'm just gonna mix that in and you know I didn't do this growing up I

always used hot and then put the grits in but when i was making my oatmeal i'm very particular about

my oatmeal yeah i start from cold water because i want them to be creamy and then one day it was

a peacock moment it was like oh cold water in the grits i know it was like yeah i think i was 30

something oh my gosh i need to go back and eat all those grits that i'm putting some compliments

in here you know okay we don't use salt we don't get no compliments listen if you don't salt a

grit when you're cooking it, forget it. Forget it. So continue to cook

and I want to know how you got from model to a successful caterer

So I was hanging out on Sundays with a bunch of models and we were

eating. Contrary to what everybody believes we were eating. I was going to say models eat

Yes they do. That's garlic going in there by the way. Okay. Looks like Carla's

using two cloves of garlic y'all. So every Sunday we would have these

brunches and people would start talking about what their mothers did, what their grandmothers did

And I'm like, really? Because my mother didn't cook. We had pancakes for dinner. So I started buying cookbooks

And then my sister had a baby shower. I made the food

And I'd thrown it into a picnic basket. And so her employer says, what's the name of your business

And I looked down at the basket, the lunch basket. That was the bag lady

I know. And in seven days, Paula, I had seven clients. In a week, I had seven clients

In two weeks, I had 14. Right? Oh, my gracious. Yes, yes

So, Carla is self-taught, y'all. We have that in common. We are home-trained, self-trained

Yes. So, next, Paula, we're just going to dredge our lamb steaks into flour

I'm going to season it with some garlic powder. And is that all-purpose? It's all-purpose

Okay. Mm-hmm. The reason I'm using powder in this is because I don't want it to burn when we fry it

Right. And I'm using a teaspoon of cayenne because we want a little oompa, a little, you know, spice

It's going to have a little bite. It won't kick. Ow! And I'm just going to whisk that up

And, of course, salt and pepper. And now I'm going to crack an egg

And I'm just going to whisk that up a little bit. Now, what cut of meat is this

This is a leg of lamb. Oh, this is right up my alley. So the whole thing, Paula, is it..

Some comfort food today. That is going to hug you. So my pan is getting hot

I'm going to put a little bit of oil in it. I'm using a vegetable oil. And I don't want oil that's strongly flavored

I really want the flavor of the meat to come out. Okay, so I'm adding compliments

And this is so beautiful. And I'm going to flip those over. And then I going to go from my cracked egg to my flour I going to do all of that That is beautiful Yeah it really pretty I can believe I in my kitchen today y sitting back on a stool I being cooked for by a top chef

I am so glad. This is the perfect day for me to be here. And so you see I have the flour on here

So it's sticking nicely. And I'm going to lay it down. As I lay it down, I'm laying it away from me so it doesn't splatter me. Yes

And then I'm going to let it do what it's going to do. Our grits are looking good. I'm going to turn these off

See how thick they are? Yes, I see. They're kind of standing. Not too thick, but yummy, creamy

You know, I said southerners, they get in a war over their grits

I mean, we're serious about our grits. Some people like a fork grit

Some people like a spoon grit. A fork grit is thicker. It'll sit on your fork

A spoon grit is thin, and you have to eat it with a spoon

Right. Because it won't stick on your fork. Exactly. I think in the morning

Unlike in the middle way. In the middle. Well, listen, Carla, we're going to take a quick break

Y'all don't go anywhere. Coming up, we dive into this top-notch meal

Mmm, mmm, mmm. Next, we're making irresistible macaroons. We have to make two batches

Yes. One to eat while we're making the cookies. Yes. And later, we're making a sweet tea that's going to take you by surprise

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. She likes it. I'm in the kitchen today with a fabulous woman

Her name is Carla Hall. She was a model, and now she has a catering business

and she can cook up a storm and tell everybody what you have cooked

I mean, I'm just drooling all on this pan. I can't hardly wait to eat Carla

So we have our chicken fried lamb, and we're going to take this out of the pan

Look, how good does that look? And then I'm going to finish a pan gravy, a white wine pan gravy

Oh, wonderful. So we already have the pan that we cooked our lamb in

Then we're going to add in half a cup of white wine. So what I'm going to do is reduce this wine to about a quarter cup

and then I'll add in some flour and make a little roux

And she's using the flour that she dredged the lamb steaks in, y'all. Yes

I can see little yummy bites down in there, and I can see the cayenne

Do you want to put some of that in there for me? Yeah. A couple tablespoons. Okay. All of the flavor that we used to dredge our lamb

is right in there. Look at this, y'all. And if you want to keep stirring that

I'm going to slowly add our stock, and we're going to make this nice and creamy

I don't have to tell you what to do. Two cups of veggie stock

Okay. I'm going to slowly add it in. Okay. You want to make sure you use a whisk

because you want to prevent the lumps. That looks so good. Doesn't that look good

Yeah, it looks really good. Yes. While you're doing that, let's add in about two teaspoons of Dijon. Okay

That Dijon is going to give it just a nice bite to your gravy

And some fresh thyme, like three or four sprigs. And now that it's all smooth, we can kind of add our stock in and not worry about... Right

Lumps. Right. You really have to take control of that stirring when you first start adding your liquid

because that heat with the flour starts reacting very quickly, y'all. Yes, and now I have about half a cup of milk

Milk gravy. You know, a southerner loves them some milk gravy. I want to taste it to see where it is

Let me get you a spoon, too. Mmm, mmm, mmm. Is it good? Is it good? Mm-hmm

Ooh, it says a little bit of a kick. Look, here's my spoon. That's how you go

Pulling me out one of those sissy spoons. Mmm. Mmm. It's good

I know, right? It's real good. Is that yummy? So we're going to let that cook and thicken up a little bit

And then we're going to add butter and mascarpone to our grits

about three tablespoons of butter. Okay, girl, I ain't mad at you

That looks like three tablespoons. It sure does. It looks like goodness me. My husband is the one that taught me to measure

Now I'm going to add the mascarpone, about a half a cup. Yeah

This smells so yummy. It does. And these grits are looking good now, yeah

They're so creamy. All right. All right, I'm going to add in some herbs

I just have some rosemary because we're doing lamb, and I like rosemary with lamb

Oh, my gracious. Are they good? Does it taste like more? No, they ain't good

They're fabulous. And let's add in some parsley and a little bit of rosemary because I like rosemary

That parsley smells so good. All right, that looks good. So why don't we move down here and finish up our side that we've got to go with this

It my asparagus with creamy mustard sauce So I have got nice warm asparagus that I blanched off for about three minutes y Don wanna overcook it

You want it to still have some body to it. All right, now I'm gonna start with two tablespoons

of a brown mustard, and I'm just gonna eyeball that. One tablespoon of lemon juice

and that's probably gonna be half of the lemon. And then I'm gonna measure out

a half a cup of heavy cream. That's it, girlfriend. Now look at that

That's beautiful. That heavy cream reacting with that lemon juice just tight and dried up

All right, now I'm going to just add, oops, a little salt or a little compliment, as Carla says

All right, and I'm going to give that another quick little beat. And let's taste and see if it needs anything else

Oh, my gosh. I love the mustard and the lemon. It needs a tongue

What did you say, girlfriend? Yes. A little bit more salt. Now, I'm just going to drizzle this

That's great. That's beautiful. Over our asparagus. What a wonderful compliment with our lamb

And now I've got slivered almonds that I toasted off in a little butter

Perfect. So we're just going to sprinkle these over the top of our asparagus, and it's done

So I'll put the grits into this beautiful bowl. Okay. Carla, I'm about to swallow my tongue

I know. Oh, my goodness. What a treat this has been. This is fantastic

To have Carla in my kitchen today, y'all. A beautiful girl that can also cook

She has waited on me today. Yes. Yes. Don't be stingy with the gravy, sister

OK, let's tilt the skillet. All right. Now I will put us some asparagus on

and we're ready to chew. We are ready. And I'm going to give myself plenty of asparagus

So many wonderful fresh flavors going on, Carla. This looks so good

I love almonds. I love asparagus. Oh, nice. All right, there you go

Mm, mm, mm, mm, mm, mm. Mm, mm, mm, mm. Mm. Look at this, y'all

This is awesome. Look how beautiful. Sorry

It's so good. It is so good. And there's asparagus. And you know how I like to eat my asparagus

OK, I'm going to do it too, when in Rome. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm

I love the sauce. I love the tang. Mm. I love lemon

That's one of my favorite flavors. Mm. It is so good, girl

Coming up, I've got two sweet treats for Carla, my amazing macarons

Carls are so good. And a sweet lemon tea. Well, if y'all were late today

you have missed the most fabulous meal. Carla Hall, y'all, she just cooked some wonderful creamy grits

and lamb with a white gravy. Well, now we can't do a whole show without something sweet

That's right. Do you love macaroons? I love macaroons. I adore. Love

I adore macaroons. We're going to make lemon coconut macaroons, y'all. Now, if you would just zest that entire lemon for me, and I'm going to be separating one egg

Now, you know, I think macaroons are probably one of the easiest cookies to make

Yes. You can't hardly mess them up. And you can do so many things with them as far as flavors

Well, the fact that you're putting lemon into it, I love it. I mean, like I said, lemon's one of my favorite

Well, I knew that you loved lemon. and I'm going to separate the white from the yolk

There we go. How are you coming? I'm good. I've got all this beautiful lemon zest

Okay, wonderful. All right, now, if you would just put that in our bowl with our egg white

Yep. And since you've been such wonderful company today and offered to do so much of the work, there you go, girl

Well, this is going to be my exercise for today. Yes, whip it until it's frothy

and then I'm going to be putting our other ingredients in. And I'm going to add just a pinch of salt

More compliments, even for the desserts. Yes, yes, yes. Now, I've got some sweetened condensed milk

Oh, my gosh. Do you know I love sweetened condensed milk? Do you make snow cream

Oh, you don't? Do you know you're going to make snow cream

Drink it right out of the can. Honey, the most wonderful dessert in the world is snow ice cream

I know. I love it And all you have to do is get the clean white snow and add sweetened condensed milk to it Yep And it is out of this world

All right, that looks great. Half a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Yum

And then I'm going to add, in honor of Carla, half a teaspoon of lemon extract

Ooh, Carla. Yum. All right. Now, I'm just going to put in that three quarters of a cup of the sweetened condensed milk

The yummy of the yummy. Yummy, yummy, yummy. Now, I've got a 14-ounce bag of flaked coconut

Just fold in all of this coconut. Nice, nice. Right into there

And I tell you what, Carla, I'll take this over. Okay. And fold this in

And if you just pull our cookie sheet over here, I mean, how simple a recipe can this be, y'all

Well, that's the thing. The thing is, when things are easy, you will actually do them

You're exactly right. Personally, I know my friends and I... I gotta go in

Yes, go in. My friends and I love to keep it delicious, but simple

Is it good? Paula's is so good. Mmm. The lemon. Oh, my gosh

Oh, my God. Mmm. We should make two batches, one to eat while we're making the cookie

Yes, yes. Mmm. Mmm. I know. Now we're going to use a little smaller ice cream scoop, y'all

You want all of them the same size so they'll all cook

I'm just going to kind of press that down in there. So good

So we're going to get 12 mounds. Yummy. Isn't it yummy? It really is

Okay, I'm going to put these in, yeah? Mm-hmm. Okay. Yes, 300 degrees, y'all, for 20 minutes

And when we come back, I'm going to make some lemon tea for you

Since she loves lemons. I love lemon. So don't go anywhere. We've got the macaroons coming up and the sweet lemon tea

Nice. I know I'm in Savannah. Coming up, this sweet tea is going to leave you speechless

Oh, my God. Welcome back. I'm in here in the kitchen with Carla

and the girl loves lemon, y'all. So, and she's in the South

She's a Southern girl. So I'm going to make her a sweet lemon tea

Now, I have taken three family-sized teabags, Carla, and I've steeped those probably about 20 minutes

I've got a 12-ounce container of frozen lemonade. I've got six cups of water here in my pitcher

I've got some cold ice. I've got some sugared lemon peel or just regular lemon for garnishing our tea

So what I need for you to do is put one. Stop eating

No. I want you to eat. I want you to eat. Measure me out one cup of sugar

Okay. And I'm just going to pour our tea over our sugar

It's so perfect. And that should still be a little warm. Yeah, it is

I just want that sugar to dissolve as much as possible. You know, the thing that I don't like about..

I love sweet tea, but when you go to restaurants and they don't have sweet tea..

Oh, honey, they look at you like you're nuts. I know, and then you fix up your tea and it's perfect at the end

and then the waiter comes and scoops it up and then gives you something else. Yes. Oh, no

Yes, yes. I have grabbed many a waiter's arm and say, No, no, I just got it just right

Please don't do that. I'm going to empty out our lemonade concentrate into there

I am going to put in a half a teaspoon of almond extract

I love it! All right, so now I'm going to add our six cups of water

I love how you're serving these in the glasses. It's so cute

Jelly jars are great. Fill me up, Paula. Okey-doke. While I fix our sweet tea, Carla

go ahead and grab us a few of those macaroons, girls. Look at this

Look at that. Mm. You know, I feel like I've made a new friend today

and I hope that we'll get to see each other again. Mm

Mm. Cheers. Cheers. Mm. It's fabulous, ain't it? Put the whole up

She likes it. Oh, my God. Oh, thank you so much. Thank you, dear

Well, Carla, it's been wonderful, honey. And I hate our time is up, but, you know

we always, always send our friends out there best dishes and love from our kitchen to y'all's

Cheers