(bright upbeat music) - [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

(air whooshes) - On this episode of "Dapper Dad's Kitchen," we've got a really swell setup tonight.

- And please, I hope it's more than just butter noodles.

- Chicken nuggets and mac and cheese.

- Okay, okay.

Yeah, definitely.

We've got something way better than that.

We're gonna do some meatballs, we're gonna learn about polenta, a great way to cook it, as well as I've got a wonderful dessert for us tonight.

We're gonna make tiramisu cups.

I got a little Dad cheat code.

(upbeat music) So today I've got two of my great friends with me, Brandon and John.

We actually met through our children, our daughters actually.

My daughter went to daycare with John's daughter.

John moved for work, I moved jobs, so I switched daycares, and that's where we met Brandon's daughter.

And we've all been fast friends.

We've stayed friends even over the distances.

You moved to California, moved back to the Carolinas.

You've gone down to Costa Rica right now with your family.

It's wonderful down there.

- Yep!

- We had a chance to visit them.

It's beautiful!

But you might remember Brandon from last season.

He was one of my guests early on.

And what was it that we cooked?

Sheet pan salmon!

- We sure did!

- That was pretty good.

Easy, one pan, no mess.

Have you made it since then?

- Yeah, I have.

- Okay.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah, I, really?

(group laughs) - You gotta send me that recipe.

- That's okay, man.

That's okay.

As long as you keep that recipe in your back pocket, we're good to go.

Okay!

So what we're gonna do is we're gonna go ahead and get the polenta started.

Anybody cooked with polenta before?

Familiar with polenta?

Have we all had grits before?

- [John] Yes!

- [Brandon] Of course.

- Grits!

Okay!

So polenta and grits, same thing, different parts of the world.

So one of the cool things, just to educate everybody and you guys, is polenta is just like grits.

It's ground corn.

It's more of an Italian style where it's used flint corn, is what they call it.

It has a harder hull, a harder husk, so that once it's ground down, you prepare it with the water and everything.

It has a little bit more of a texture than grits.

Grits that we know here in America, it's made with dent corn is what they call it because when the kernel dries out, has a little dent in the top of it.

So that corn has a softer husk, and when that's milled down and we make grits, that's why we get those really smooth and creamy grits.

Now, we will make this smooth and creamy, adding a little bit of butter and everything to it, but you'll see it has a little more texture and it's gonna hold up a little bit better.

With that we're gonna have some, the meatballs, which I'm gonna have you guys go ahead and start preparing and everything.

And we'll talk about that.

We're gonna mix it in the bowl.

Let me get this up to heat, get it boiling.

Got to preheat it just a little bit.

Soon as that gets boiling, I'll go ahead and put the polenta in there and begin to stir.

If you wanna go ahead, I'll let Brandon stir and then both of you guys can go ahead and start forming some meatballs.

But we'll go ahead and put the pork in there.

- All right!

So how much pork is it?

- That's about 1/2 a pound of ground pork.

- [Brandon] Gotcha!

- [John] And this ground beef?

- And that's a pound of ground beef.

I'll get that out of the way for us.

- Okay, 1/2 a pound, a pound, and just mix together, huh?

- [Tim] Yeah, just go ahead and start mixing them together.

- [Brandon] All right!

- [Tim] What we're gonna do and add to that, get us a good pinch of, go ahead and add a good pinch of salt in there.

(bowl clangs) - [Brandon] There we go.

- [Tim] And some pepper.

- [John] Bam!

(Brandon laughs) - Okay, now this is where it comes in a cool little step.

We're gonna add some ricotta cheese.

So we've got about 1/2 a cup of ricotta cheese.

We're gonna go ahead and add that in as well.

- [John] Okay!

- And is there a better way to mix it?

Do we have to use this?

Can we use hands to get in there, or?

- You can use your hands if you want to, but with the ricotta cheese, it's a little bit different than just using that, so I would go ahead and get it started with that.

And then we're gonna have to form meatballs here shortly anyway, so yeah.

- [Brandon] Gotcha.

All right, good deal.

- So now what are some of the go-tos for your kids, John?

- Chicken nuggets.

(Tim laughs) It's a fan favorite in the house.

We eat a lot of rice and beans presently.

- Okay.

Yeah, definitely.

- You know, mac and cheese is, you know, we have soccer practice, you know, five nights a week, so it's really hard a lot of times to come up with a good, healthy meal like this.

So I'm excited to try this recipe.

- Now we've got a little bit of oregano.

We'll put a little bit in there now.

Let him stir it up and we'll put a little bit more in there.

- [John] Okay!

- My kids are kind of the same.

Buttered noodles, noodle.

I don't know why it always comes back to noodles.

Buttered noodles, ramen noodles with sauce.

- Mac and cheese!

- Mac and cheese.

- Oh, yeah!

- But, you know, at the same time, it's easy.

And we as parents kind of fall into that same rut.

We're like, "Let me just grab another box of mac and cheese and make that work.

Let me grab another ramen pack."

Not always, well, sometimes the quickest, but not always the healthiest.

- Yes!

- It doesn't take a lot to do this and it's gonna come in real handy in a pinch when you're coming home from soccer practice.

You can even get these meatballs out pre-made on your lunch break or in the morning when you're cleaning dishes from breakfast and go ahead and form them into balls, put them on a tray, cover them in plastic and put them in the refrigerator.

And then just they're ready to go, you've got that ready to go in the evening.

- Nice!

What about the consistency?

Is this?

- I think that's a good consistency.

- Yeah?

All right!

- Yeah.

- [John] Little more oregano?

- [Tim] Yeah, go put some more oregano in there.

Never hurt.

Little more pepper too.

- [John] You want all this in there?

- Ah, maybe not all of it.

We'll see how it looks.

(hands slap) I do a lot of cooking from sight.

Regular recipe would call for probably about a tablespoon, but we're gonna put in a little more than that.

All right, good.

This is coming up to boil.

I'm gonna go ahead and put our polenta in there.

(upbeat music) So polenta like this, we're just gonna go ahead and kind of put those in there.

Same thing like grits.

It's probably, you know, like I've got four cups of water, one cup of polenta.

- Is that the typical ratio, you would say?

- Yeah, that's the typical ratio.

We're gonna go ahead and bring that to a boil.

Go ahead and stir that in.

I'm going to add a little bit of butter to that as well.

- [John] Does it cook like rice where you just remove the heat then and cover?

- Yeah, just like rice, just like grits.

We're gonna go ahead and build it up to get thick and then we're just gonna turn it down and let it just kind of simmer and just thicken up, and it should be nice and good to go.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and it's very easy, kind of low cost alternative to a pasta if you wanna do that.

So what we wanna do is we wanna go ahead.

This is stirred up.

This looks great, sir.

- Good job.

- Why, thank you.

- We're gonna pull out a little bit, about the size of a golf ball, and just go ahead and roll that and form it into a ball.

Kinda get it in there and then put it on there.

- Okay!

- Probably a little bit bigger than a golf ball, but yeah.

This is also fun if you like cooking with your kids.

They like to get their hands a little messy, so go ahead and do this.

Now if you're my son, he's gonna try to make the largest one and use all of it, but we can make usually about three for that.

So we'll go ahead and get that done there.

I'm gonna keep an eye on this.

Just give it a stir.

Yeah, we're boiling good there, so we're just gonna do that for just another minute more and then we're gonna turn it down and let it simmer.

- How many meatballs will this make, do you think?

- We should get enough for four servings out of this.

It just all depends on the size of the meatballs that you make.

I'm gonna go ahead and get some oil in our skillet.

So if you were doing this with your kids, how would your little guy do it?

- Both hands in, huge mess, and brother and sister fighting in the background now.

- Probably a little bit in his hair while he's at it.

- Waiting for their turn.

- This is a little different than the microwavable meatballs that we use.

(group laughing) So!

Probably throw it at each other.

- All right!

Yeah, yeah.

So what are some of your go-tos?

We talked to John about some of his go-tos.

What are some of your go-tos?

'Cause you've got four.

- Yeah!

- You've got two boys, two girls, also soccer, and you also coach soccer.

- Absolutely.

So I would say a lot of the times it is quick stuff.

So it's pasta, it's the typical dino nuggets, it's the mac and cheese.

But if I do have a little time, if I'm actually doing the cooking, it might be some chicken tenders, if I'm gonna grill them, or some chicken breasts.

I'll normally throw those on the grill and get a good little seasoning on those and they seem to like that.

- Yeah.

No.

Another great hack that I like to do that is easy and not as, is rotisserie chicken.

You can always grab a rotisserie chicken.

I like that 'cause you can add that to the butter noodles, make it a little more nutritious.

You can add it to the pasta.

My kids, like I said, it comes all about pasta, but I'm ashamed to say it.

I know I do a lot of cooking on television here for you guys, but sometimes we might just have cereal.

- Yeah!

- Breakfast for dinner.

- Real life!

- Yeah.

Breakfast for dinner is also another just like- - Oh, breakfast for dinner is the best!

- Easy hack!

'Cause, well, at least you know they're getting a little more subsistence.

They get some eggs, some protein.

- Yeah!

- And maybe some pancakes with it, things like that.

But yeah, my kids love a good breakfast for dinner.

- Dad likes it too.

- That's been, like, our Friday specialty actually.

Kids love the breakfast for dinner, pancakes or waffles.

- [John] Yeah.

- [Tim] Okay!

- Yeah.

Throw some turkey sausage with that.

- [Tim] Okay!

- Oh, yeah.

- Wow, that's nice.

That's nice.

Now, when you moved to Costa Rica, did you find- I mean, you said, like I said, a lot of rice and beans.

I get it.

(John speaking Spanish) - Huh?

- That's what they call it, (speaking Spanish).

(Tim speaking Spanish) - It's very special.

It's got Lizano in it.

Lizano's the best.

- Okay!

All right.

No.

I mean, I loved it every time I've gone down there, but, like, you're right.

Even at the resort we stayed, it was available at breakfast.

- Yeah, yeah.

(group laughs) It's served at every meal.

- Yeah!

No!

Okay!

Was it difficult with small kids to get them to try new things?

- Yes!

- In a different country?

Were they like, "Where's my Frosted Flakes?

Where's my, where's my, you know?"

Or did they kind of like, did they see their classmates and stuff like, "This is what people are bringing to lunch.

This is what we're trying."

Did they get into it that way?

Or did it take a little coaxing?

- Ah, a little coaxing.

I mean, honestly, you can eat pretty much like how I would, they would normally, if I wanted to.

But I try to break that cycle a little bit to have a little bit more healthy food.

But, but no.

They, I mean, at this point they eat casados every day.

And yeah, they order their own lunch at school and it's basically rice, beans, and pick a protein.

- I mean, I know the same things are available, but it's always cool to get them to kind of just, you know, enjoy it and learn about the culture where you are there.

- Oh, my gosh!

Oh, yeah!

There's a lot of fresh fish options in our area so it's really, really nice actually.

- [Tim] Sweet!

Okay, the pan's getting full here.

We can probably make one or two more of those here.

- [John] Yep.

- We don't wanna put too much oil in here, but I've got a little bit to get it going.

Coat the pan, and then some.

I'm gonna turn this up to about medium heat.

Let's take a look at the polenta here.

See?

It's starting to go ahead and firm up a little bit.

- [Brandon] Have you ever used wine in your meatballs?

- Wine?

- Yeah, my wife allegedly says that's part of the binding portion of it.

I don't know if she's just saying it or she just wants to crack open a bottle of wine.

(group laughs) - Use a little bit of this?

- Yeah.

You know?

- Little bit for Mommy?

- No, I have not.

- Okay!

- I used to always feel I needed to put breadcrumbs in there to hold it together and everything, but you really don't need to do that.

A lot of people think that, you know, "I gotta add some breadcrumbs when I'm making burger patties, add some breadcrumbs to the meatballs and everything."

Yeah, it does help it stick together, but it also helps stretch it out a little bit.

So I think that's where that originally came from and all.

So great job on the meatballs, guys.

We're gonna go ahead and start putting them in the pan.

I'm gonna put you in charge of that for the moment, John.

Go ahead and start putting a couple in there.

One thing we always talk about on the show is you don't wanna overcrowd your pan, so we'll start off with maybe about half of those.

Go ahead and put some of those in here.

Like I said, we've got a little bit of olive oil in here, just enough to coat the bottom of the pan.

I've got it about medium heat.

(upbeat music) - You said not to overcrowd, but what?

Inch apart?

Two inches?

- Yeah, give them a little bit of space.

You don't want them all touching each other, you know, like by putting the whole pan.

That's okay.

But, yeah, you don't want them all touching each other if they're in the pan.

That's good for that right there.

Now we're just gonna keep a good eye on these because it's gonna go fast with this skillet.

See?

- Oh, wow!

- And we're just gonna keep kinda just turning them.

We wanna get all the sides even.

Get a nice little sear on there.

(meatballs sizzling) Cast iron works quick.

- [John] I think so.

- [Brandon] Sure does!

- [Tim] Now, have you ever made meatballs, meatloaf with the kids or anything like that before?

- [John] Yep!

- [Tim] Something they're open to?

- [John] Yep, meatballs, yes.

- Okay, cool.

Everybody, I think, I feel like every family has an Italian night, you know?

- Yeah!

- Like it's some sort of, some way, shape or form or other, whether it's a lasagna or anything.

So I do have to ask you this.

I've been asking a couple of my guests this season so far.

What's your dirty little kitchen secret?

What's your hack?

What's your thing that you keep in the cupboard that you're like, "Man!"

You know?

The last one I talked about was I keep spray butter.

- [John] Ah, okay!

- It's a great little hack.

Some spray butter, spray it on there.

That way I don't have to melt butter and things like that.

Plus, it's easy to do if I'm doing breads and toast like that.

So what's your little dad hack that you got?

- Mine is Lizano.

Lizano is absolutely the best sauce and seasoning.

I can eat it on anything.

It spices every single food up in a positive direction.

- Okay!

So for those of us that aren't familiar with that, what's it like?

- It's a salsa you can buy here.

- Okay!

- It's called Lizano.

L-I-Z-A-N-O.

It's delicious.

Honestly, it's one of the main requests we get anytime we're traveling back from Costa Rica that we have family members saying, "Hey, pick us up a bottle of Lizano."

Yeah, it's delicious.

- I'm gonna check it out!

I'm gonna look for that.

Definitely!

- No, I like seasoned salt.

That seems to be one of my go-tos, kind of throw that on everything.

It's almost like the adobo, you know, you just kinda- - [Tim] Yeah!

- Put it on everything.

It tastes good, well seasoned.

So, yeah, I kinda like that.

- So now, like I said, it's my turn.

We talked about this one time.

I think my big thing is, like, I do like a lot of prepackaged stuff for myself to steal as snacks and everything.

Like, there's probably a can of spam in there somewhere.

I know.

I love that.

I think that's another great breakfast meat to do and put on a sandwich.

But yeah, that's my little secret is, like, I like tinned fish.

Meat in a can, like things like that, you know?

Like some good fish like that.

I think it makes an easy snack and stuff, but it's not something that's just kind of, I think, run of the mill for me.

A lot of people think that when you do a lot of cooking like this, that you cook everything.

But I like to, like, just take it easy sometimes too and sneak a meal or something.

- You said about, like, a rotisserie chicken.

That's a great go-to for us to try to keep it, like, a little bit healthy, have a nice couple sides, but be able to spice up a rotisserie chicken.

- Yeah!

Definitely.

- Even going on salad too, right?

- Let's go ahead and drop a couple more of those in there.

We'll put those.

I'm gonna move the pan up so that stays a little off the heat.

We'll add some more of these.

So we got one two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine.

We're gonna go ahead and do... Well, that's good.

That plenty for us.

Now, while that's going, I'm gonna go over here and check on the polenta.

You can see, like, now we've got rich, creamy polenta.

- [John] Oh, yeah!

- [Brandon] Yeah, it does have that grit kind of consistency.

- Yeah, it's got that.

I'm actually gonna cheat.

This is for a little bit later on, but I had a little bit of, I had a little bit of heavy cream for our dessert.

I'm gonna put just a touch of that in there.

We'll still have plenty.

- [Brandon] And that's to what?

Thicken it up a little bit?

- Yeah, just to make it a little more creamy.

Add a little bit of salt.

Go ahead and put my pepper in there.

If you wanna keep flipping those and turning those around, John, make sure they don't burn.

We'll go ahead and get that in there.

- [Brandon] And with these meatballs, are you just kind of eyeing it to see if it looks pretty ready?

- [Tim] Yeah, 'cause what we're gonna do is we're gonna put the sauce in there.

We just wanna get a good brown on there.

- [Brandon] Okay.

- [Tim] We're gonna put the sauce in there.

- I'm kind of mutilating these things.

- Here, maybe this will work a little better if you just kind of roll them around.

- Yep, perfect.

- So Brandon, since you've, since the last show, you've moved your family back to Charlotte after going Out West for some work.

How's the transition back with everything with the kids?

They enjoying being back in the Charlotte area?

- Oh, they love it.

It's been easy transition actually 'cause we're back in the same house, same neighborhood.

So everyone knows us.

We know them.

The kids met the, you know, the same friends that they've had.

So they're on a swim team right now.

So it's been really good just to be back and have familiar faces, I would say.

- That's awesome!

- Yeah!

- You are definitely keeping it busy.

Okay!

What we're gonna do here is I'm gonna turn the heat down a little bit, and we're gonna go ahead and add our tomato sauce.

(meatballs sizzling) Whoa, whoa, whoa!

It's gonna make a little bit of a mess.

So we're gonna go ahead and put some crushed tomatoes on there.

We're gonna let that settle in there.

And that's just gonna, like, those meatballs are gonna soak that up and finish cooking.

And we'll just go ahead and cover that.

I am gonna go ahead and add a little bit of garlic in here, which we should have added a little earlier.

I missed out on that, so that's my fault, but it'll still get a lot of flavor in there with the crushed tomatoes.

One 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes.

It doesn't have much seasoning in it.

It's just a tomato.

So that's why we're gonna add the seasoning.

We've got that.

We're gonna go ahead and put a little more oregano on there.

Just go ahead.

- [Brandon] Do you have this recipe out there for anyone to follow?

- Yeah, we're gonna have this recipe on pbscharlotte.org and everybody can take a look, download it, try it, put your own spin on it, put your own mix on it, see what you like to do.

- Nice!

- So we're gonna go ahead and let that go.

- [Brandon] This one I will try.

(group laughs) - Don't make me any promises.

No, it's okay, man.

All right, that's good to go there.

Get them nice and covered.

These are gonna taste great.

- [John] Yeah!

- [Tim] What are your go-to recipes for when family arrives?

- I would say for us, it's been chili.

Chili seems to be a nice kind of, you know?

When it's cold outside, my wife throws a big pot of chili together.

She has a good recipe for that.

- [Tim] Okay!

- I don't know exactly what's in there, but I just know it tastes good, so.

(group laughs) - Well, I think chili's one of those things that as parents, as dads and moms, I don't ever make mine the same twice.

It kind of depends what I have on hand.

- Yeah!

- And what we're kind of in the mood for.

And it always has a different flavor.

It's always crazy when you have somebody over for chili.

They're like, "Man, that's really good.

Like, you gotta make that again."

You're like, "I don't really-" - [Brandon] "Yeah, I'll try."

- "I'll try.

Like, I don't know what kind of- What exactly I'll put in there, but, you know, we'll figure it out."

I think we're gonna go ahead and get started on our dessert while this is cooking along nicely.

Man, this is great!

- [John] That looks so good.

- Did you have any winter kind of meals that you enjoy making?

- So I think in the wintertime what I like doing is, like, you know, hearty meals like stews, like you said.

A chili, a stew, a good pasta and sauce with some gravy and things like that.

How about you?

- Yeah.

Well, it's super hot in the winter where I am, so, like, chili is delicious and I love it, but it's, like, not a summertime meal and it's always summer in Costa Rica.

So!

- Poor you!

It's always summer in Costa Rica.

- Yeah!

(group laughs) - Weather's too good.

- So, all right!

Now we're gonna move over to the dessert portion of the meal while this is simmering.

If you look here, we've got that.

That's coming along nicely.

How does that look?

And of course I've got this lowered down and I took it off, so we want a little more of that water to evaporate and kind of just thicken it up just a little bit.

But, like, yeah, I think that's looking great.

- That looks amazing.

- Okay!

So for dessert, we're gonna do this 10 minute tiramisu cups.

Kinda like a little cheat code.

We've got ricotta cheese, we've got some heavy cream, we've got some sugar, we got our lady fingers, and we have some coffee.

And a little bit of cocoa powder.

So coffee is cold, but what we wanna do is go ahead and grab the blender.

Scoop this in there, John.

- [John] Yep!

- And he'll go ahead and blend that together.

It's kinda cool.

It's like I got sous-chefs this go around, you know?

- Got it, Boss!

(chuckles) - Yeah!

Can I get a, "Yes, Chef?"

No, just joking.

- Yes, Chef!

(chuckles) Little more.

(spoon tapping) - Go ahead and get all of it in there if you can.

All right!

Now I'm gonna go ahead and add in the sugar.

This is a 1/4 cup of sugar.

And that was a 1/2 a cup of the ricotta cheese with a pint.

If you don't mind, I'm gonna turn this up for you a little bit.

Now like I tell my kid, always hold on to the bowl 'cause as that thickens up, the bowl's gonna spin.

- [Brandon] And what consistency are we looking for?

- [Tim] We're getting thick peaks.

- [Brandon] Thick, thick?

Okay.

- Yeah, thick peaks.

All right, John, what I'm gonna have you do is we're gonna go ahead and start soaking these.

We're gonna take these lady fingers.

We're gonna break them in half.

We're gonna give these a quick dunk in the coffee.

- [John] Okay!

- And then put it in there.

Then we'll get another one.

Quick dunk in the coffee.

Go ahead and put it down in there.

- Okay!

- All right?

- [Brandon] And how's this looking?

- [Tim] Oh, keep going.

Keep going.

- [Brandon] All right.

- We want it nice and stiff.

Another handy thing that you can do is go ahead and turn it off for a second.

Just go ahead and, 'cause this is a small bowl, so that's my fault.

But go ahead and fold in those edges.

- [Brandon] Oh, yeah.

- [Tim] Yeah, it's getting there.

That's a part of it, having fun.

- [John] Yeah, the cleanup at the end is not my favorite part.

(group laughs) My kid's cooking.

- Yeah, when your kids are cooking?

- Yeah.

- All right, that's perfect right there.

See how we're doing here.

I'm gonna go ahead and turn these just a little bit in here.

Oh, yeah, they're getting... - [John] They look really good, man.

- [Tim] Yeah, they're getting nice.

- So is there a time set for that, generally speaking, or we just kinda?

- No, we're doing good.

Like, this is one of those things, like, as it's simmering, it's just gonna keep getting better and better.

- [Brandon] Okay!

- That looks good.

Okay, so that looks great.

Let me see.

Yeah.

We'll show everybody.

Yeah, that's nice and thick right there.

I'm gonna give it a little taste test.

Oh, that's perfect.

Yep.

- Good?

- That is gonna be just fine.

All right, so go ahead and we're gonna go ahead and scoop those on there.

- [John] All right.

Are we gonna put these somewhere?

Good?

- Maybe just a little bit more on there, just a little.

Yeah, that's good.

That's good right there.

And then the easy thing you can do is you can take this and you can just tap it on the counter.

I'll tap it on this so it's not- - Yeah, 'cause it's pretty loose in there.

It'll fill in.

I really wanna taste that.

(laughs) - [Tim] When you're done scooping, you can reach in there and taste that.

- [John] I call licking the spoon.

That's my kid's favorite part is licking every part of anything that makes icing or cake better.

(group laughs) - All right, that's perfect, man.

- Nice.

- [Tim] All right!

We just take, this is just cocoa powder.

- [Brandon] Really?

- [Tim] We're just gonna sprinkle it over the top.

- [John] Oh, yeah.

- You know?

(upbeat music) Just dust it over there just a little bit.

There we go.

I'll let you do the rest since you did all the hard work with the blender.

- All right!

There you go.

- So how'd you come up with the name Dapper Dad?

- I, honestly, it was just I was hanging out at this kitchen island and I was thinking about, "You know, what's a cool name?"

It wasn't taken and it kind of just kinda rolled.

"The Dapper Dad!"

- Yeah, no, it's a great name.

- "Dapper Dad's Kitchen."

I mean, I do like to kind of just, you know, keep it, ah, keep it a little- - [John] Little dapper?

- Little hip, little dapper for the old guy that I am, you know?

But I hang out with these guys.

I gotta stay up with them, but yeah.

So what we're gonna do with these is they look good.

We're gonna go and let them settle.

We're gonna just cover those a little, maybe shake those around so they cover up a little bit.

Normally what we could do is we could put these in the refrigerator, but I'm gonna go ahead and put these in the freezer so they get stiffened up really quick while we go ahead and sample the polenta.

- All right!

- All right!

- So now we're ready to plate.

We've got our garnish here.

We've got some fresh basil leaves.

I'm gonna have you chop them 'cause you're in front of the cutting board.

- Okay.

- We're gonna just go ahead and do, grab a couple leaves, the broad leaves, put them together, and go ahead and roll it up like that.

And then we're just gonna go ahead and cut it very thin.

- Okay!

- That's a super sharp knife, so just let it do its work.

There you go.

You can do thinner.

There we go!

Brandon, you wanna pass me one of those plates?

We'll go ahead and start this up.

All right!

We'll go ahead and start off with the polenta.

It's so thick, I'm using a slotted spoon and it's still working.

- Oh!

And I do have a dad joke for you.

- Okay, let's hear it.

- Yeah!

So in the heart of a World Cup this year, why did the tiny person, the tiny soccer person, need a shower?

- I don't know.

- Because they were a little "Messi."

- [Both] Oh!

- Ba-dum-bom!

- Well done, bro.

- [Tim] Well done!

Got to do that.

- [Brandon] Oh, that's coming along good.

- We're gonna go ahead and get a little bit of sauce in there too.

A little bit of basil on top.

- [Brandon] Oh, look at that.

Nice!

- [Tim] There you go, sir.

- [Brandon] Thank you!

- Take care of my man here.

- [Brandon] Good job, cutting.

- [John] Thank you!

(group laughs) - So do you do most of the cooking in your household, John?

- Um, I would never say that on camera, that I do most of the cooking.

I do a lot, but my wife also does a lot, so we share everything.

- I think that's what- - I do the most.

- I think that's what we have to do this day, you know, 'cause everybody's so busy.

You know, most households, both parents are working, so it's kind of like, you know, it's like you gotta team up almost.

And, you know, communication really helps out with that in trying to figure out meals and everything.

There you go, sir.

- I'd say I'm a, I'm like the weekday cooker and then on the weekends where she has a little more time, she usually makes like a really nice sauce on a Sunday, or will make meatballs, or.

- Nice!

- I'm the fast.

I'm the griller.

- Gotcha.

Yeah.

- A lot of grilling.

- Oh, I'm sure.

- I hear you.

- A couple of those.

All right, we're good here.

And finish this off a little bit.

Okay, so we're plated up, guys.

Thank you so much for your help.

Let's dig in and tell me what you think.

Be honest.

Be brutally honest.

So we've learned a little bit about polenta today, so we've got a new starch to put into the mix.

Oopsies!

- I like it!

- [Tim] Very creamy with the sauce.

- Oh, my god, the meatballs.

Mm!

- Let me get into that meatball.

- I think what brings the meatballs together is actually putting the little bit of the ricotta cheese in with it.

It kind of just gives it like a little, a little tang.

- I've never thought to do that, and that is amazing.

I love ricotta cheese and I love finding ways to put it in things.

(group laughs) - Oh, this is awesome.

I love this.

- Well, let me ask you, with polenta probably being something that I know my kids probably haven't tried yet, do you think this is something, this is a dish they would go for?

- Yeah!

Yep.

- I think so.

I think they'll like the consistency.

They do like oatmeal and I think it kind of resembles that too, or at least texture-wise.

So I think they would enjoy this.

- All right!

- Yeah, my kids love grits and rice, and this is basically grits.

- It's like a happy medium.

- Yeah, yeah.

- I mean, yeah, it is.

Polenta is basically grits.

It's just a different type of corn.

But you'll notice how it has a little bit more texture to it.

- [John] Yeah!

- Than... Yeah!

- Than grits.

- Yeah, than grits.

- Yeah, grits can be a little watery.

- Before we finish these plates, you gotta save some room for dessert.

Let's check out this little dessert that we put together.

(plates clang) It's just a quick little 10 minute tiramisu cheat cup.

What did you think about making it?

It's pretty easy, right?

- Oh, super easy.

- That was simple.

- Yeah, as soon as you get it done, you can put it in the freezer.

Once again, this is something that you can make ahead of time.

Put it in the refrigerator and bring it out later on tonight or tomorrow or anything like that.

- [John] Yeah!

- So let's give it a whirl.

- Dig in.

- And like I said, just lady fingers soaked in coffee, the ricotta, heavy cream, sugar mixture, topped off with a little bit of cocoa powder.

- It's hanging, bro.

It's really good.

- I love this.

- Super easy.

- Yeah, super easy.

Although if you're gonna do this with the kids, maybe decaf.

(group laughs) I don't know.

Yeah, no, that came out really good.

- Oh, this is awesome.

I love this.

- Awesome!

Well, guys, keep eating.

Keep eating if you want to.

(Tim laughs) Yeah, you're reluctant to put that one down.

- I will follow you.

- Don't tell me twice.

- Well, I talk with my hands a lot.

But anyways, guys, thank you so much for joining me on the show.

It was really cool.

Like I said, we got to learn a new little, couple new little techniques.

Easy quick meal that you can throw together after practice and everything for the kids to enjoy and the adults to enjoy as well.

I think it's a pretty good crowd pleaser.

So what are your thoughts on it, you know?

Any feedback or tips?

Anything you would do different?

Because that's one of the cool things about cooking, is you adding your spin to it, you adding your spin to it, things like that.

So is there anything that you would do different?

- I would say the only thing that I would add, just because I'm obsessed with cheese, would be maybe some, like, Parmesan or something.

Kind of like a cheese that would be good on Italian on top.

- Yeah, no!

- Yeah, I guess I agree with that.

I love cheese, so a little more cheese on it.

- [John] Yeah, cheese doesn't hurt anything, so great.

- So thanks for joining us on "Dapper Dad's Kitchen."

Please check us out online at pbscharlotte.org for recipes and more, and we'll catch you next time.

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