[upbeat music plays]
Welcome to Easy-Bake Battle.
I'm Antoni Porowski.
I'm here to show you
that good food doesn't have to be complicated or fancy...
-Smells pretty tasty in there. -Yum.
[Antoni] ...and to celebrate the unsung heroes of the home kitchen.
[woman] We do not give enough credit to the home cooks.
I am cooking every day. That has gotta count for something.
[Antoni] These cooks will use clever tricks
to cheat their way to easy and delicious dishes.
Mmm.
[upbeat music continues]
That is so good!
They'll race against the clock.
-Is your heart racing? -Yes! I'm stressed for them.
Oh my God! What?
Oh God, that was stressful.
[breathes rapidly]
[Antoni] For a chance to win up to $100,000.
You took me back to my childhood. Did you just make me cry with your dish?
-Bing! -[woman] Holla at your girl.
Let me know when you want me to serve you up.
This is gonna be good.
Let the Easy-Bake Battle begin.
I'm so excited to meet you! Hi!
Dave, Haley, and Andy, welcome to your Easy-Bake Battle.
I'm so excited to introduce you to my dear friend, chef Kristen Kish.
Thank you very much. I am thrilled to be here.
[Antoni] Kristen is an award-winning chef, a cookbook author,
and she knows a thing or two about cooking competitions.
She's also one of your judges. So be nice.
[all laugh]
You're all here because you guys are exceptional home cooks
who are incredibly clever and crafty and creative in the kitchen.
-Andy. -What's up, Antoni?
Former college athlete. You must be pretty competitive.
Yes, sir.
Growing up, I played every sport, but today,
I wanna prove to everybody that I'm not just the jock.
I can throw down in the kitchen.
-Haley. -Hi.
-I see you brought a little sous-chef. -Two sous-chefs.
-Two! -Twins! [laughs]
-This is your second? -I have a daughter at home.
She's 18 months, so I'll have three kids under the age of two. Yeah.
I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through.
Winning this competition would be huge for our family.
The biggest thing I would wanna do is get a larger vehicle.
Mom van! I'm ready for it.
Dave, you're an active duty military man. Thank you for your service.
Thanks for your support.
In the military, you're told what to do. When I cook, it's how I want it to be.
I go play army during the day, and at night,
I don't have to follow anyone else's recipe.
I can literally take something and just create.
-Ready for your first challenge? -Oh yeah.
-I am. -Absolutely.
-Let's do it. -[Antoni] Okay.
Here's the situation.
It's midnight. Happy hour ran way too long and your stomach is rumbling.
You need sustenance.
I'm talking greasy, carb-loaded, guilty pleasure goodness.
I mean, who wants late-night kale?
Your challenge is to create a late-night snack
that's fried, includes cheese, and comes with a sauce.
You have up to 30 minutes, but this round is a race, so go as fast as possible
while still delivering the most delicious dish you can.
[Haley and Andy chuckle]
Myself and Kristen will be judging your dishes based on taste and presentation,
but we're also gonna be judging you on how easy your dish is.
We're looking for less time and ingredients,
as well as clever time-saving hacks.
[Kristen] Give us a piece of you.
Like, story and food equals heart. That's really what it's all about.
[Antoni] After judging, two of you are gonna move on to the final round
for a chance to win $25,000.
Wow. [giggles]
-Okay. My palms are already sweating. -[laughter]
-Same. -Are you guys ready?
-Absolutely. -Oh yeah.
On your mark. Get set.
Make it easy!
[upbeat music plays]
Some wontons.
Buttermilk.
[Haley] Cream cheese.
[Antoni] Okay, so midnight snack. It's gotta be crunchy.
It's gotta be cheesy. There has to be a sauce that goes with it.
Need sour cream.
Okay, I can do this.
I make midnight snacks all the time.
My family loves potatoes. My son loves cheese.
So I'm gonna make a cheesy-loaded potato ball.
And I'm gonna make ranch dipping sauce from scratch.
This mozzarella's gonna be stuffed inside, as well as some cheddar.
When I fry it up and the cheese melts on the inside,
it's gonna have a nice cheese pull that's gonna wow the judges.
Nice. Definitely need more than that.
[Andy] My plan today is to make
a Philly cheesesteak wonton with a side of Texas queso.
[laughs] Let's go!
I've made it a million times.
I used to make it for a former college football player, roommates.
I'm pretty stoked to knock it out today. A little diced jalapeño.
Some people say my food's too spicy.
I would disagree. [chuckles]
-Haley has cream cheese, shredded cheese. -You love cream cheese!
I love cream cheese.
Okay.
I am making a stuffed jalapeño cream cheese wonton
and a super quick ranch dip.
But I have never worked with a deep fryer in my life,
so this is definitely a new challenge for me.
Haley has some grated cheese,
which is great, 'cause it just melts a lot easier
than having large chunks of it, right?
Haley, what are you making?
I'm making my stuffing for my wontons.
I know that's gonna be something good, boy.
I am so excited to compete. I've never done anything quite like this before.
I've done a chili cook-off back in college,
but this is a lot larger of a scale.
Now that I am a mom, I actually cook fast.
I am constantly trying to get things on the table quickly for my daughter,
because a hungry toddler is
a hungry toddler. [laughs]
It's never out of season for a cheesy snack, right?
My family loves my cooking. My son gets in the kitchen and cooks with me.
He's only two years old, so I have to do things quick.
I can literally bake a whole breakfast in an oven
without touching a stove, like poaching an egg in a muffin tin,
using two sheet trays to make some bacon,
so that he can have fun with the cooking process
and I don't lose him with two-hour meals.
You can do so much in a microwave, versus roasting a potato in the oven,
which takes 40, 50 minutes.
I had to figure out a way to make it easy.
Get these potatoes wrapped in paper towel, microwave 'em.
Way faster than roasting. Wrap them with a wet paper towel.
It's gonna allow the potatoes to steam and get nice and soft and tender.
Microwave 'em for four to five minutes for each potato.
Usually, the skin will peel right off.
I'm breaking off the potato skin
and putting it in the bowl so I can mash it up.
If a bit of skin's in there, it's fine. Skin's good for you.
Dave already has potatoes cooked.
-That happened very fast. -How?
[sighs]
Dave, if your fingers are burning,
your earlobe is the coldest part of your body.
If you touch it with your index finger and thumb, it'll cool it off.
I've been doing this so long I don't even feel that it's hot.
Woo. It's kind of hot in here.
[Andy] Ooh, baby!
I'm super confident
because I cook fried food a lot.
I played football in college, and that's where I got my start in cooking.
I was able to share that love for cooking with the players on the team.
So I have frozen chopped onions.
Frozen onions are gonna be a huge time saver for me.
They're already chopped and I can use 'em in two different ways.
I'm gonna use half of the onions for my Velveeta dip.
I'm gonna use the other half for my ground beef mixture.
There we go. Come on.
If you've been to Austin, Texas, you know about that queso.
-He's such a bro. -A bro.
[both laugh]
[Antoni] All right, 20 minutes!
-You got this. -[Andy] Woo!
Okay, so just in terms of, like, overall moods,
I feel like Dave is definitely running against the clock.
Woo.
[Antoni] Andy's hair has changed drastically in very few minutes.
And look at cool, calm, collected Haley. She's already assembling her wontons.
She definitely meditated this morning.
So I'm filling the wontons now
with the avocado, cream cheese, jalapeño mixture.
I'm gonna fold them up and fry 'em, and then get the ranch dip going.
I am a little nervous about putting these wontons in a deep fryer.
If you don't get the sealing nice, you can start getting filling
oozing out into the fryer, and that's gonna be an absolute disaster.
So Haley's already assembled and shaped.
Andy is close behind. He's making wontons as well.
It's the battle of the wontons.
You know what I find interesting is that Andy was cooking that meat,
which is totally fine, but a hot meat filling inside
before you roll is probably not the best idea.
It's such a small amount of filling, he could go raw meat
and save a lot of time.
Making pierogies growing up, the filling always had to be cold,
because if it's too hot, it's so much harder to do.
Queso's rockin'. So the dip is good to go. It has to kind of marry.
Now I'm assembling these things. Just closing 'em up with that egg wash.
These things can be tricky to fold up.
My biggest concern is making sure they don't fall apart in the oil.
I'm gonna throw 'em in the deep fryer.
They'll only take, honestly, about three minutes apiece.
What do you think would be the best way to fry where time is so limited?
I see the mini little deep fryer.
So long as they're on and heated, obviously deep-frying cooks the quickest.
[tense music plays]
[Andy] I'm gonna move these over to the fryer and that'll be a wrap.
[Haley] I'm gonna fry 'em three or four minutes, watch 'em and see how they go.
Haley's the first in the fryer.
-How are you doing? -[Haley] Good.
-Getting there. -I know, right?
This is so money. I need one of these.
-Mom friendly. -Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah, crispy heaven. [laughs]
[laughs]
Dude, this is awesome.
I'm loving how this is going.
Right now, I'm just breading the potato ball.
One thing I do wanna pay attention to is the size.
As I'm watching Dave make those balls, that's like a small baseball size.
That's gonna take longer in a fryer to get it really nice and hot.
My great-grandmother taught me, "Do it nice, not twice,"
so you don't have to go back and do it again.
I understand that the competition is about time,
but I would say wontons are the easy way out,
because all you're doing is frying some premade dough.
Me taking my time and making my own breading is gonna stand out.
All right! Let's go, baby!
I'm making some ranch. It's gonna be a little buttermilk,
mayo, and sour cream, dried chives, dried parsley, and dried dill.
Nice.
I'm making a really quick ranch with premade ranch powder.
I love to use things in your cabinet, like ranch seasoning.
It cuts down the time.
Instead of chopping up dill and parsley, and all the herbs,
you have your flavoring right here.
Pour your buttermilk and you're ready to go.
[tense music plays]
Come on. There we go.
There we go.
Okay, Haley was definitely in the lead timing-wise, but Andy's already plating.
[Andy] We got to make it look nice for Chef and Antoni.
Sweet! All right.
That looks pretty awesome. Um, micro cilantro? What is that?
So a little cilanch on top of the queso action.
Finish that thing off with a little bit of salt.
I cooked these for maybe five minutes until they were nice and golden brown.
None of them did this. Season with salt right after the fryer.
Right?
It's so important, so the seasoning sticks to the hot food.
[Haley] About to plate my dip, and I'll be done.
[tense music continues]
Photo finish on this.
Under four minutes remaining. All three of them are plating, great.
I love the swoosh with the spoon.
Sweet.
I love it.
-[bell dings] -Woo!
Andy's done first! Andy finished in 26 minutes and 42 seconds.
Just under three minutes remaining.
[Dave] Very close. Need a garnish and that's it.
[Antoni] Yes.
-Haley's almost there. Oh, oh, oh. -[bell dings]
-Boom! -Done!
Yes! Haley's done!
Come on.
[Antoni] 27 minutes and 30 seconds for Haley.
-[Dave] Come on, come on. -Let's go, Dave. You got this.
-[Dave] Finishing up. -[Andy] Knock 'em out.
You got two minutes and 20 seconds left.
It's cheesy.
The flavor will be there.
[tense music continues]
-[Antoni] Boom, Dave is done! -[Andy] Atta, baby!
Dave finished in 28 minutes and 12 seconds.
All three of you are done. Congratulations.
Thank you!
[Antoni chuckles]
Dave, talk to me about your dish. What did you make?
I made some cheesy-loaded potato bites
on top of a spicy ranch sauce, which I made with buttermilk,
sour cream, mayo, some dried chives, dried parsley, and dried, uh, dill.
Uh, plenty of cheese loaded into 'em.
Topped it with chives and more Parmesan cheese.
-Cheese on cheese. -[Dave] That's right.
[Antoni] Lovely pull. I see the cheddar. I see the mozz.
-That is so good! -[Kristen] Right.
You made your ranch from scratch.
[Dave] I did.
Do you feel that cut into your prep time?
It definitely cut into the prep time,
but it tastes a lot better than some packaged ranch.
-[Antoni] Okay. Heard that? -[Haley] Mm-hmm.
Dave, what I love most about this dish is, one, it looks inviting.
Maybe a little bit more sauce, because the potatoes are so dense
that you need a lot more to soak in there.
But otherwise, you see two golden, beautiful orbs of crispiness
and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Potatoes, super nice and creamy. Your ranch is really nice and tangy.
I feel like that acidity from the buttermilk
kind of cuts through the fried component.
I would use a little bit more cheddar.
That said, hacks like microwaving your potatoes,
I'm gonna remember that one.
The fact that you use, like, "crispy orbs,"
I'm gonna write that in a poem one day, 'cause that's brilliant.
That was great.
-On to the next? -Let's do it.
[Antoni] Let's go.
Hello.
-Hello! -Hi. [chuckles]
Tell us what you made.
So I made a creamy cheese and jalapeño stuffed wonton.
And I made a really quick ranch dip with, like, three ingredients.
I also just love wonton wrappers, because they're really easy and simple.
-Yeah, because who doesn't? -[Haley] Yeah, exactly. [laughs]
[tense music plays]
[Antoni] The flavoring is...
I hate this word, but I'm gonna use it, but it's like a flavor bomb.
There's this explosion, and there's so much going on.
-It really made me happy. -Good.
It's crunchy. It's salty on the inside. It's rich and creamy.
I loved the ranch.
Three ingredients
yielded you a phenomenal sauce that, quite frankly, I'll probably copy.
I just wish there were a bit more salt on the outside of it when I bit into it.
-So it was a little neutral. -Yeah.
That said, I really liked it.
[Kristen] The presentation is simple. It's effective.
The fold of the wontons was really nicely sealed.
That was delicious.
-Thank you very much. -Thank you.
-Let's go.
Andy, boy! Tell us what you made.
[Andy] Yeah, I made a Philly cheesesteak stuffed wonton with a side of Texas queso.
Playing college ball, everybody would come over to my house
after a late game and want food.
This was easy because you can make a million of 'em and keep popping 'em out.
-So that's where it initially came from. -[Antoni] Awesome.
[tense music plays]
You went heavy-handed on the onion and I like that.
[laughs]
-I just felt that. -Yeah.
I'm sorry. I wasn't expecting that.
-It hit me in a nice way. -[Andy] Good.
So, Andy, a fun fact. I once judged a queso competition. 75 quesos.
I feel like you should enter the competition, I'll put it that way.
-[Andy] Thank you. -It's delicious.
Appreciate it.
-[Antoni] That is the star of this dish. -[Andy] Cool.
It was really well-balanced.
So the wonton, a little bit leached out, a little bit dry inside.
What we could have worked on a touch more was sealing those edges.
But that being said, I think the flavor is rich. It's Philly cheesesteak.
[Antoni] Consistency, as you very well know, can make or break a dish.
That said, we're both equally impressed by your dish and your hair journey
throughout this Dish Dash.
-So thank you. -Thanks, Antoni.
That potato hack that you did in the microwave was really clever.
Saved a ton of time. I wouldn't have thought to do that.
My mom critiqued me the first time I made it.
She was like, "I need the potato softer."
"You better put that potato in for ten minutes or else." Like, yeah.
So all of you did truly an incredible job
whipping up some delicious late-night snacks.
-Thank you. -Thank you.
So the winning dish was perfectly fried,
wonderfully crunchy,
and the sauce added balance and tang
that you really needed to counteract that fried heaviness.
The winner is...
[tense music plays]
...Dave. Congratulations.
Nice, Dave.
-Thank you, guys. -Nice, man.
[Dave] I feel amazing. I put all my effort into my dish.
For them to eat almost both potato balls, that means they really enjoyed it.
I'm more confident now than I was about an hour ago, for sure.
Now for the hard news.
This is really challenging, obviously,
but only two of you can make it on to the next round. So...
The cook going home is...
[tense music plays]
...Andy.
I'm so sorry.
So sorry to say goodbye.
Thank you so much. This was awesome. Yeah.
If I could have done anything differently, I would have taken a breath,
relaxed, and rolled the wontons correctly, rather than rushing through it.
But at the end of the day, I had a blast. Hacks for life, stay humble.
-It's so sad. -It sucks.
Even though Andy finished first,
sometimes finishing first, if you rush the process,
doesn't yield the greatest result.
-The sealing caused the biggest issue. -Yeah.
Well, there's literally no time to waste.
Dave, you won the Dish Dash, but this battle is an even playing field.
Whoever wins this round becomes our reigning Easy-Bake Champion
and will continue on for the chance to win up to $100,000.
It's time for your final round in the Easy-Bake.
The situation is the same.
It's late. You're tired.
But this time, the fridge is empty,
which means you're gonna have to check
the freezers.
[upbeat music plays]
[Haley] Okay.
We also have an extremely special guest who's joining us for this round only.
Please welcome a national treasure,
the big Easy-Bake Oven!
[upbeat music plays]
We've created a special state-of-the-art
and full-sized Easy-Bake Oven that captures the spirit of the original.
And guess what?
This time around, you'll have to make your entire meal in the oven.
But it's going to take a little bit of strategy.
You're gonna have just one hour to make your entrée.
But you'll only have 40 minutes to access the ovens.
When the light comes on, it's ready to go.
But once the light goes off, there's no more heat.
Dave, Haley, are you guys ready?
-I'm ready. -Oh yeah.
Your time starts in three, two, one.
Make it easy!
[Kristen] Oh my goodness.
For this round, they can only use something out of the freezer
or their pantry, or canned goods, nothing fresh.
They can only use the oven.
They can make a finishing sauce or anything like that on our stove top.
-But it cannot be the base. -Got it.
Frozen chicken. Let's see what else.
[Dave] Now that I've won this first challenge, my head's in the game.
But at the end of the day, Haley's a great competitor.
I know she has tricks up her sleeve.
Although I'm confident, I'm still a little nervous.
-[Antoni] Haley went straight to the oven. -That sheet tray went in.
-She must be preheating it for something. -Oh, right.
If you get a sheet tray really nice and hot,
you can develop a nice char on something.
[scoffs] Haley, 30 seconds in, she's already throwing hacks our way.
Almost going home in this last round, it really encouraged me to step it up.
So I plan to make something that I know and I love.
I just need to make sure that I execute it in the right way,
because winning this round would mean bringing home that $25,000.
Hey, Haley. What you making for us?
I am making a deconstructed poppy seed chicken
using frozen chicken breaded with crackers.
And I'm jazzing up some frozen broccoli. Gonna make it roasted and delicious.
Love!
-Hey, Dave. -Yes?
-[Antoni] What you making? -So I'm making a Tuscan salmon pasta.
Once I defrost my salmon fillets by sitting them in cold water,
I'm gonna get them into a nice hot skillet. That's my protein.
[Antoni] Love.
I'm running this spinach under warm water. It's not gonna start cooking the spinach.
I'm just trying to break it apart enough so that I can put it into my pasta.
One of the greatest home cook hacks for anyone is honestly frozen spinach.
No one needs to be cooking five pounds of spinach to get a cup.
-Right? -Yep.
[Haley] I'm gonna start prepping my chicken.
You can make frozen chicken beautiful.
Being from the South, casseroles are a huge thing.
We learn how to make a casserole before we learn how to ride a bike.
So I know I can bring those flavors.
I'm gonna start making the breading for the chicken out of crackers.
I love to just use a Ziploc baggie to crush my crackers.
It makes it super easy and mess-free.
You don't need anything fancy to beat it.
You can use a rolling pin, back of a wooden spoon.
Make it simple.
And then I'm gonna add a little bit of seasoning here to my cracker mixture.
Poppy seed chicken casserole has poppy seeds in with it,
so I'm gonna mix that in.
So now I am pressing the breading on to the oil and chicken.
Then once I get them on the sheet pan, I'm gonna add a little bit more.
What I'm gonna work on now is gonna help my noodles to absorb some moisture.
I cook this dish for my family at home almost weekly.
So using the oven only isn't too hard of a stretch for me.
I'm gonna go in here with some chicken broth, some tomato paste.
Then we're just gonna season this sauce. Everyone's used to boiling pasta noodles
until al dente, but 30 minutes in the oven in a nice little broth
and you'll have pasta done the same way.
I don't have fresh mushrooms, so what I'm gonna do is take canned mushrooms,
chop those up and put those in there as well.
I just wanna make sure that I have a dish with plenty of depth and plenty of flavor.
The canned mushrooms are definitely a safety net
in case my salmon doesn't defrost or come out the way I want it.
Dave is gonna be baking pasta in a shallow pan in the oven.
That is such a smart way to use his oven.
He's already building and layering other flavors in with the pasta water,
so not just a little seasoning and salt like normal stove top.
He's got the mushrooms in there,
so all that flavor is gonna get sucked up by that pasta.
Okay, so one minute until your Easy-Bake Ovens turn on.
All right, boom.
-[Antoni] One minute. -One minute. Okay.
Okay. Perfect. Perfect timing. Perfect.
All right, everybody, your Easy-Bake Ovens are now on.
You have 40 minutes until they turn off.
[Haley] Okay.
[upbeat music plays]
I have got my chicken in the oven. So now I am preparing frozen broccoli.
You can do that delicious and get a nice char on it.
I've been preheating my sheet pan in a really hot oven.
I'm going to be generous with the oil, so when it hits that pan,
you're gonna hear the sizzle.
I'm gonna hit it with red pepper flake
and a bit of sugar to bring out the natural sweetness of the broccoli.
Okay.
-[Antoni] She's got a hot pan. -Listen for that sizzle.
See if we get it.
[oil sizzles]
-[Antoni] It's sizzling. -[Kristen] Sizzle.
That is a satisfying sizzle.
[Haley] I'm gonna pop that in the oven for 15 minutes or so and just watch it.
So it appears that Dave's salmon
is fully thawed out, because now he's patting it dry.
[Dave] I'm adding a little bit of oil to my salmon skin,
so that when it hits this hot cast-iron, it'll really sear it.
This salmon was frozen. It's gonna release a lot of moisture into that skillet.
I don't want that extra moisture,
so I need a hot pan to make sure that this gets nice and crispy.
[Antoni] It's a good way to make sure your skin stays intact with the salmon.
My dog loves it when the skin sticks to the aluminum foil,
because she gets to eat the mushy skin.
When it's crispy, I eat it.
I hear some sizzle.
She's a gentle sizzle.
Which might be better for the salmon, so you don't get too hard of a cook.
-Overcooked and raw on the top. -Right.
All right, here's what we're gonna do.
I'm gonna make a Parmesan cream sauce.
I'm gonna use some cream of mushroom soup, because I don't have any heavy cream,
because we don't have the fridge.
Since I can't use Parmesan cheese as a fresh cheese,
I'm gonna add Goldfish Parmesan crisps.
We're gonna cook this down and make a Parmesan cream sauce.
We're just gonna add that to our salmon, and it's a wrap.
What you doing? What's happening?
I'm just thickening up my creamy sauce for the chicken with a little cornstarch.
Not only am I a mom, I am a really confident cook.
I find a lot of joy in preparing and being really creative in the kitchen.
I've worked really hard to get here and I know my family too would be proud.
-Yeah. -I'm already proud of you.
-Thank you. -Yeah, same.
This is a dream to continue to cook for Antoni, who I really look up to.
I actually can't believe that I'm here. [giggles]
[Antoni] How's it going, Dave? Speed-walking.
It's going, it's going.
-Great. -Exactly.
Right now, I have a lot of things going on at once.
But I'm able to keep myself cool and calm and able to refocus.
I guess that's a military mindset.
[Antoni] Interesting. So he used cream of mushroom soup,
but also whole canned mushrooms.
Full disclaimer, I've never used canned mushrooms before.
-You wanna try one? -Yeah.
-Tell me how it is. [laughs] -Thank you.
[upbeat music plays]
It definitely has a chew to it.
It's not not slimy.
-It tastes nothing like mushrooms. -Very curious to see how that fits in.
-[Kristen] Mm-hmm. -Okay.
Um, I feel like we're the last people at a party
that should've left 30 minutes ago, but we're sticking around for last call.
We should go back to my kitchen.
[Haley] Maybe another three or four minutes.
[Dave] This Is the moment of truth.
[groans]
The salmon skin is not gonna be crispy as I want it to,
because there's still so much moisture, it being a frozen fish.
Not as good as I want it to.
Hope this side comes out looking as good as I want it to. It's all right.
Hopefully, I can get the salmon seared on that side,
so I'm putting my salmon back in the oven.
I'm gonna hope for the best.
I'm gonna kind of cut into one and kind of make sure it looks okay.
Perfect.
Just a reminder, your ovens are turning off in 15 minutes.
[Dave] I gotta keep mixing this pasta, so it doesn't just dry out.
Yes.
So I got a nice char from frozen broccoli.
No one would ever know that was a frozen piece of broccoli.
Ten minutes to go,
and five minutes for your ovens.
[tense music plays]
I wanna make sure that I'm not gonna overcook the salmon.
Nothing worse than overcooked salmon. I'm looking for 160 on this one.
I like a well-done salmon. I'm not one of those kind of raw type of people.
We're close. I'mma let that sit.
So I was wanting to go with some crispy shallot or something to put on top,
but I don't have any access to fresh ingredients,
so I'm gonna try to do something with a bit of onion
and see how that turns out.
What is she gonna do?
Careful, 'cause it'll splatter. They have a lot of moisture.
Watch that beautiful face of yours, Haley. I don't know what that accent was.
[tense music plays]
All right, that's it for the oven.
Your ovens are off, everybody.
Five minutes left.
[dramatic music plays]
[Dave] Ah, come on.
-[Haley] Maybe one more on that one. -One minute left on your cook.
-Come on, come on. -[Antoni] Five, four, three, two, one!
That's it! Time is up.
Take it easy, everybody.
Man!
[Antoni] Haley, we're gonna start with you.
Okay.
-[Antoni] Thank you. -[Haley] Enjoy.
This is a deconstructed poppy seed chicken,
a twist on a classic Southern casserole.
I just remember eating that a lot growing up.
And this is just an elevated version.
It is quicker than the casserole as well.
I've never had poppy seed chicken before.
If this is what it's supposed to taste like, it tastes fantastic.
Crackers is always a brilliant choice, because they're already so fatty and rich.
They just crisp up. I was getting pieces that fell off,
eating them like little fried croutons. Those were absolutely delicious.
The chicken, perhaps, a little thinner, like cut 'em in half or something.
-'Cause the breading to chicken ratio... -Right.
-I'm a breading fanatic. -[Haley] For sure.
Having more of that breading balance with that big bite of chicken...
-Yeah. -...I think could have helped.
The broccoli is the most surprising thing for me.
If you didn't tell me that was frozen, I would have no idea.
I was familiar with the sheet tray hack,
but I don't know if I would have ever added sugar,
and that also helped accelerate that caramelization.
-Yes. -And it's very smart.
-And really tasty. -[Haley] Thank you.
Thank you.
Okay. Chicken's nice and tender. I really like the sauce.
It's nice and thick without being too dense.
The broccoli has the right amount of heat from the chili flakes as well.
If I have a tiny little critique that I have to bring up,
I would have salted the onion right when they got out of the fryer.
But that said, I'm a big fan of this. So thank you so much, Haley.
Dave,
you're up next.
Let's do it.
[Kristen] Thank you.
[Dave] So I made you a Tuscan salmon pasta with a Parmesan cream sauce.
[Antoni] Love that.
[Dave] I make Tuscan pasta a lot,
because it's a creative way to get different veggies in your pasta dishes.
Do you cook pasta in the oven often?
Pasta in the oven is a go-to on a late night.
If I don't feel like waiting for pasta water to boil,
you can throw it in a sauce and cook it in the oven,
and in 30 minutes, you have the same thing.
-Mm-hmm. -Literally the assignment.
-Late-time munchies. -That's it.
[Antoni] Yeah.
It tasted really fresh.
The fact that you used canned goods and pantry goods
and everything out of the freezer, and you did it successfully...
-[Dave] Thank you. -Salmon is seasoned really nicely as well.
Slightly overcooked.
-I like mine a little more underdone. -Okay.
I see our little friends here,
um, th-the canned mushrooms,
which I made the mistake of trying right out of the can.
Definitely better in this Tuscan pasta.
-Note to self. -Perfect.
This is my first time trying a baked pasta like this, and it's really clever.
It's really, really simple.
I'm happily surprised at how well it came out.
The flavor profile, like Ant said,
it is very fresh.
It feels... It feels... Tuscany. Like it...
I'm not gonna lie. This was not at all what I was expecting.
I was thinking it was either gonna be gummy and overcooked or undercooked.
-Yeah. -But it's even.
It's very impressive.
My only critique is that if we're gonna try to do salmon with the skin on,
cook it with the skin, that's fine,
but if it's not crispy, take it off before you serve it.
The sauce was incredibly clever. I like that.
Like Parmesan cream sauce with Parmesan crackers.
Yeah, I would've... I would've never thought of that.
Thank you.
Kristen and I are gonna have a chat and you can head back to your stations.
-Thank you both very much. -Thank you.
You making the pasta in the broth in the oven was really smart.
For you to bring the freshness with the broccoli...
I was trying to figure out
how I could make a frozen vegetable look really good, and you did it.
That was great. It's pretty much anyone's game.
Dave and Haley,
this has been such an extraordinary day in the Easy-Bake Kitchen.
Through your food, I feel like I've gotten to know both of you,
and for that I am so grateful.
So thank you for being so generous with us.
So as you both know, we can only have one winner here today.
You both were amazing.
But the winning dish was easy.
Every single thing on that winning plate had a purpose.
The home cook putting $25,000 in their pockets today,
who will come back for a chance to win again and again,
is...
[tense music plays]
...Haley. Congratulations.
[Dave] Congrats. Let me give you a hug.
[Antoni] Congrats!
-You definitely deserved it. -Thank you.
Congratulations.
You just won $25,000.
Oh gosh, it's...
I mean, it's just gonna bless our growing family tremendously.
Woo!
I'm getting my mom van! I am so incredibly proud of myself.
If you're a stay-at-home mom, continue to chase your dreams
and find that thing for you, 'cause it feels really amazing.
We deserve a snack right now, so let's honor the classic Easy-Bake Oven
and maybe enjoy some beautiful Easy-Bake brownies.
Nice.
Yay!
You first, winner.
-Thank you. -Cheers.
-There you go. -[Kristen] Thank you.
[Antoni] This season on Easy-Bake Battle...
We're gonna challenge you to only use a waffle iron.
Does that stress you out?
I don't think so, Antoni.
[Antoni] We're honoring the true superstars of the dinner table.
I'm gonna cook like you've never seen.
Very excited, because I'm perpetually hungry.
Ha!
I'm going to win, because I'm a winner. [laughs]
Gives you a whole new meaning of flat iron steak.
[laughs]
[Antoni] And their amazing hacks.
-It is a smart hack, isn't it? -Yeah!
-Easy and delicious. -[Antoni] I would pay money for this.
I love you!
[Antoni] With $100,000 on the line...
[woman] Oh my gosh, my waffle is overflowing.
I came here to win the $100,000.
Oh!
[squeals]
[Antoni] ...they'd better make it easy.
This is an opportunity of a lifetime.
Perfectomundo!
Yum! It's really good.
-We're so proud of you. -Thank you so much.
-[Antoni] Hey, hey, hey, hey. -I'm sorry.
[Antoni] Just a little dab. You got this.
Is anyone making gravy?
[upbeat music plays]