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I'm Ree Drummond.
I'm a writer, blogger, photographer, mother,
and I'm an accidental country girl.
I live on a ranch in the middle of nowhere,
and all my recipes have to be approved by cowboys,
hungry kids, and me.
Here's what's happening on the ranch.
We're having dual dinners on the ranch tonight --
one for the kids and one for the grownups.
Down at the house, my kids and their cousins
are getting a fabulous family-friendly pan
of baked ziti.
Then, up at the lodge, we adults are having rib eye steaks
with flavorful cowboy butter,
baked potatoes with all the fixins,
and for dessert, individual chocolate lava cakes.
Making it to both meals is a cheddar bacon salad.
It's a tale of two dinners.
Us and them all the way.
Welcome to my frontier.
I'm cooking two dinners tonight --
you heard me --
one here at the lodge and one down at my house.
Ladd and I wanted to have his brother, Tim; his wife, Missy;
and the kids over for dinner tonight, and it was all planned.
I'm gonna make steaks and potatoes,
but then the kids kind of cooked up an alternate plan
and decided that they wanted to all have dinner
down at our house.
I thought it'd be fun, so I'm gonna whip up some baked ziti
to take down to the kids for dinner,
and then I'll move forward with dinner for Tim and Missy.
All right.
I have some onions and garlic browning in a pan,
and I just added a pound each of ground beef and Italian sausage
and I'm just gonna break this up as it browns.
It already smells so good.
Since I was planning steak and potatoes for Tim and Missy,
I didn't think it would be feasible for me
to make that at both locations,
so I kind of looked in the fridge and pantry
to see what I had,
and this baked ziti just jumped right out at me.
Honestly, once I started thinking about it, I thought,
"I don't think Tim, Missy, Ladd, and I have ever had dinner
just the four of us."
We've always had the kids around,
so it's kind of a novel concept.
I hope we can find things to talk about.
[ Laughs ]
Okay. The meat is totally browned.
I'll add a 28-ounce can of whole tomatoes,
juice and all, and then a couple of regular cans of tomato sauce.
You can also do jarred marinara sauce if you have that.
Either one will work.
And then, just to give it a little spice --
I know the six Drummond kids can handle it --
some crushed red-pepper flakes
and then about a teaspoon of Italian seasoning.
I love this baked ziti.
Any time I have to feed a bunch of people, I whip it up.
Then a little salt and pepper.
Okay, now I'll just let the meat sauce simmer
for about 25 to 30 minutes to make sure it's really flavorful,
and while it simmers,
I'll whip up the cheese mixture for the baked ziti.
So, the first cheese is ricotta. Just a tub.
The next is mozzarella.
I'll grate a pound and a half and add about 2 cups,
keeping the rest for later,
and I'll also grate 1/2 cup of parmesan
and add it in with the other cheeses.
Next it's 2 eggs, 2 tablespoons of minced parsley,
some salt and pepper,
and then I'll just stir it together a couple of times.
Okay.
The cheese mixture's all combined.
Now I'll get the pasta in to cook.
I'm using a pound of ziti pasta.
You can do penne, mostaccioli, any short pasta is just fine.
Just pour it in.
All right, now I'll just let the pasta cook
for about 10 minutes until it's done.
A steer.
Paige?
Kangaroo!
Yes!
Can I go? Can I go?
Yeah. Go, Tom.
Now, the baked-ziti elements are all ready,
so I'll start by assembling it.
Now, first I'm gonna take about 3 cups of the sauce
out of the pot, and I'm taking it out
just so it'll cool down a little bit.
All right. Stir it around.
I'll show you what I'm gonna do with this here in a sec.
Now, the pasta's all cooked.
I rinsed it under cold water
'cause I wanted it to stop cooking,
and I'm just gonna pour it into the bowl
with the delicious cheese mixture,
and then I'll stir this so the pasta gets coated
in all that wonderful ricotta, all that mozzarella.
Okay.
Now, the sauce should be slightly cooled,
so I'll pour it right in with the pasta and the cheese.
Now, the purpose of this is just to give the cheese-coated pasta
a little bit of a coating of sauce
without totally drowning it yet.
Okay. This looks great.
You don't want to totally mix it together.
You still want to have some big chunks of cheese in there.
Now I'll start the layering process.
I'll add half of the pasta into this dish
and then I'll spread it all into an even layer.
Now I'll top the pasta with half of the sauce.
The sauce looks so good.
It's been bubbling away.
It's really dark and rich-looking.
You can just boil up some pasta, top it with this.
That'd be a great dinner, too.
Okay.
Now I'll just spread the sauce into an even layer.
Now, on top of the sauce,
I'll add a little more grated mozzarella.
And then I'll start the whole process again.
And this is going to be the perfect dinner
for those six Drummond kids.
I'm just gonna cover it with foil.
Then I'll grab the salad out of the fridge
and run all this down to my house.
Up next, I'm kicking off the "us" dinner --
steak, cowboy butter, baked potatoes,
and chocolate lava cakes.
Sounds good.
REE: Well, we're one family,
but we're having two separate dinners tonight.
Tim and Missy are coming over here for steak and potatoes
and I'm gonna take dinner down to my house
for my kids and their two cousins.
I've got the ziti.
I've got a little salad and a really delicious dressing
I'll tell you about on the way to my house.
Now, both the kids and the adults
are gonna get the same cheddar bacon salad.
For the kids, I just chopped up a bunch of iceberg lettuce.
The adults up at the lodge are gonna have iceberg wedges,
but that's basically the only difference.
Now, the dressing for the salad is really delicious,
and it couldn't be more simple.
It just starts with mayonnaise, some sour cream, buttermilk,
and a couple of cloves of pressed garlic.
Then that gets all whisked together,
and I like to add a little bit of distilled vinegar
just to give it a nice tang.
To make it really savory, a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce,
salt and pepper, and then it just gets whisked together
until it's nice and smooth.
I'll assemble the adults' salad up at the lodge,
but the kids'll put theirs together down at the house.
REE: Are you reading your history?
Yes, I am.
Wow, what a beautiful sight that is.
[ Both laugh ]
Okay.
I brought you dinner, so I'm gonna put you in charge.
Okay.
The baked ziti goes in 375-degree oven
until it's bubbly, so like 25 minutes or so.
Okay.
Have fun.
Thanks.
Call me if anything wild happens.
Okay, I will.
Bye, Alex.
Bye.
Oh, there you guys are.
Hey! Well, I left dinner with Alex.
Are you sure you guys don't want to come have dinner
with us at the lodge?
Yes. We're sure.
Positive?
Yes.
All right, well, I'm gonna head up there.
Y'all have fun with Caleb and Halle, okay?
Okay.
All right.
Don't get into any mischief.
We won't.
I'm making steak and potatoes.
I've got the baked potatoes in the oven,
so I'm gonna whip up the toppings for them.
I'll start with the most important topping
for baked potatoes -- butter, of course.
I'll just slice a stick of butter in half
and put it in a little dish.
By dinner time,
it'll be slightly softened and it'll be just perfect.
Now, I've got some bacon bits.
I just fried up some bacon until it was really crispy
and chopped it into bits,
and then I love to put chives on my baked potatoes.
There's just nothing like that flavor.
Makes baked potatoes so delicious,
so I'll just chop them up and put them into a dish.
Okay.
And then, of course,
you have to have sour cream for baked potatoes,
so I'll just pile some in.
Now, the potatoes I just rubbed with a little bit of oil,
sprinkled with salt and put them into a 400-degree oven.
I'm just gonna bake them until they're really, really tender.
Okay.
Now, of course you can't have a baked potato
without sharp cheddar cheese.
Just pile some cheese in a bowl.
Okay.
Now, that's it for the baked-potato toppings,
but the great thing is I need a lot of these same ingredients
for my iceberg-lettuce salad.
Now, I've just got a head of iceberg,
and I just take off the outer leaves.
There are always a couple that are a little bit banged up.
And then I'll just slice it in half down the middle,
and then I'll slice it in half again to make wedges,
and then I'm lazy.
I just cut the core right off,
and then you have a neat little wedge.
So I'll just arrange these on a plate, one by one.
Okay.
The wedges are all ready,
so I'll just grab some more of this delicious dressing.
And I'll just spoon it right over the top of each wedge.
Just let it drip down the sides.
Oh, that's a beautiful sight.
I'll serve the extra dressing on the side,
so I don't need to drown these right now.
Okay, for extra deliciousness,
I like to sprinkle on some of the sharp cheddar,
just right on top,
and then, to send the salad into outer space
in terms of deliciousness,
I sprinkle on some crispy bacon bits.
Wow. What a salad.
I tell you what, for a meat-and-potatoes family,
salad doesn't get any better than this.
Hey, Caleb.
How's it going, guys?
Let's go inside and eat.
Up next, it's the "us" dinner -- rib eyes, cowboy butter,
baked potatoes, and chocolate lava cakes.
Then, let the two dinners begin.
Tim and Missy just dropped Caleb and Halle off at my house,
and Ladd's been at a football meeting in town.
He's on his way out,
so I'm gonna get started on some delicious rib eye steaks.
I'm just gonna fry them up in the skillet.
No need to light the grill.
There are just four of us.
All right.
I just added some olive oil and butter to this big skillet.
I'll let the butter melt.
I've got the skillet on pretty high heat.
Okay. Now, I'll season the steaks.
I'm gonna season them really generously.
They're pretty thin,
so they're not gonna take very long to cook.
I'm just gonna throw them in the pan for a few minutes.
Okay, now, let me check the skillet
and make sure it's just right.
I want it to be really, really hot
so the steaks get nice color in a short amount of time.
So I'll just put them in the butter.
I'm using olive oil
just so the smoking point can be a little bit higher.
Butter for the flavor and color, of course.
Sometimes, if I just use butter and not olive oil,
the kitchen gets pretty smoky.
Okay, now I'm gonna let the steaks cook
for about a minute and a half on the first side.
Now, I'm gonna grab this cowboy butter.
This stuff is magical.
I'm gonna slice it
and put it on top of the steaks after they're cooked.
It is unbelievable.
You just put softened butter into the mixer
and whip it until it's nice and fluffy,
then add minced parsley, lemon zest, red-pepper flakes,
coarsely ground black pepper, the juice of half a lemon,
and mix it until it's totally combined.
Then, to make it into a roll, lay out a piece of plastic wrap,
scoop the butter mixture down the middle,
carefully pull up one side of the wrap around the butter,
and gently form it into a log.
When it's all rolled up,
I just twist the ends and get it into the fridge to harden.
Okay.
The steaks are ready to flip, and they look incredible.
You know, big, thick, juicy steaks are great,
but really, I prefer slightly thin ones.
You get a lot of this delicious surface area.
Oh, wow. That's a beautiful sight.
Now, I'll just let them cook for about a minute,
minute and a half on the other side,
and while they do that I'm gonna slice up the cowboy butter.
The great thing about this cowboy butter
is you can also smear it on hot, crusty bread.
You can even put it on the baked potatoes.
It is delicious.
On top of those steaks, it is out of this world.
I hope we're having steak tonight.
Well, she knows you're coming.
All right.
It's almost time for dinner up here at the lodge.
Tim and Missy will be here any minute.
Ladd will, too, so I'm just topping these glorious steaks
with slices of cowboy butter.
You want to do this as soon as they come out of the pan
while they're really hot,
and then the butter will sort of ooze over the steaks.
Now, there's just one more thing I need to do.
I've got to get dessert in the oven.
I made little chocolate lava cakes.
They are so delicious,
and they are a really easy make-ahead dessert.
I just put 2 ounces of bittersweet chocolate
and 2 ounces of semisweet chocolate
into a bowl with a stick of butter.
Then I nuke them for a minute or so
until the butter is melted
and then mix it all together until it's smooth.
After that, I add a teaspoon of vanilla,
1 1/4 cup of powdered sugar,
then whisk in 2 eggs, 3 egg yolks, then 1/2 cup of flour.
Then I divide the batter between four dishes
that have been sprayed with baking spray,
and they're all ready to bake when you want them.
Okay, I'm just gonna put them into a 425-degree oven
for about 13 to 15 minutes.
Okay, now on a little side note,
I have a special something in this drawer -- a rubber snake.
We have this thing out in the country
where we like to prank our loved ones with rubber snakes.
Well, my brother-in-law, Tim, is definitely one of my loved ones,
so he's the lucky recipient tonight.
I cannot wait to see how high he jumps.
Up next, it's dinner on the double.
The kids are chowing down on baked ziti,
and we're having juicy steaks
followed by the most incredible chocolate lava cakes.
For recipes from this episode, go to...
Hey, Slim.
LADD: How are you doing?
How are you, Missy?
MISSY: Good.
How are you?
LADD: Good.
You look nice.
Why, thank you.
I'm ready to eat.
I am, too.
REE: All right.
Oh. Potatoes are perfect.
Now, when I do baked potatoes,
I like to split them down the middle with a dinner fork.
Ooh. Hot potatoes.
Hey!
And then -- Oh, Tim!
Hi, Tim. Hi, honey.
We've all been walking down the road.
How are you doing?
Dinner is ready, believe it or not.
Missy, Tim, why don't you all go across the counter and...
TIM: Oh, yeah.
We will separate by spouses.
So, did you drop the kids off?
BOTH: We did.
Were they excited?
Yes, they ran fast.
REE: Tim, let me hand you a baked potato.
All righty.
It is hot, hot, hot, hot, hot.
LADD: I'll take one.
All right, honey.
Thank you.
Melissa.
Thank you.
All right. Okay, give me your plate, Tim.
We've got some cowboy butter on top.
I'm gonna try to find the rarest one for you.
There we go.
Ah.
Perfect.
This is a "serve yourself with your fingers" type of meal.
Honey, beer?
And then, guys, help yourselves to an iceberg wedge.
When's the last time the four of us had dinner together?
Just the four of us?
It's been awhile.
Very long time.
I think we went out.
It was 1999, I think.
[ Laughter ]
It could've been.
Let's toast to that.
Here's to a nice, quiet meal, right?
Yeah.
Here's to our house still being there when we get home.
Oh, it will be.
Ooh.
Whoa.
Nice.
That looks good.
ALEX: Okay, guys.
Pass your plates down, and I'll serve you up.
There we go.
Okay. Pass that down.
Can you serve me up some salad?
Okay, guys.
Dig in.
You guys like it?
Yeah.
I was really hungry.
Do you guys like having dinner without our parents?
ALL: Yeah.
ALEX: Yeah, we have full control.
Well, do you guys have room for dessert?
Where's the sweets? I'm ready.
Well, let's clear all this out and we can make room.
LADD: Hand me yours.
MISSY: Oh. Well, thank you.
REE: Hey, Tim?
TIM: Yes, ma'am?
Would you grab the vanilla ice cream
in that top drawer right there?
[ Laughs ] Aren't you funny?
You're so funny.
I know a snake can't live in the freezer.
You were supposed to jump to the ceiling!
Well, even if it was a live one, he'd be cold.
[ Laughter ]
He'd be dead. Gosh!
He wouldn't move quick enough.
I should've gotten Ladd instead
'cause Ladd jumps like a mile in the air.
My plan was foiled.
LADD: She got me one time when Butch and Julie were here
with that same little trick.
It was a little bigger snake, too, wasn't it?
That night, yeah, I got her good.
It was in the shower when she went in to get in the shower.
[ Laughter ]
TIM: Look at this rubber snake, it won't even move.
If he's moving, he might break.
It's froze.
REE: Darn it!
I was thwarted.
Well, guys, I don't know about you, but this was nice.
I think we should do it more often.
I agree.
I agree.
And Tim, next time, it's gonna be a live snake.
It's on.
[ Chuckles ]