[upbeat music plays]
Alisa, I'm so happy and excited that you're here.
-Welcome to Easy-Bake Battle! -Thank you. I am very excited myself.
It has been a whirlwind.
I need a vacation. Don't we all? I'm sure you need one too.
I need a vacation. I've been standing on my feet for 12 days.
-Let's consider this our mini-vacation. -Yay.
[Antoni] Mmm. Ah.
Today's Easy-Bake Battle is all about gorgeous sunsets,
sandy beaches, amazing food, and photo ops.
We'll take a couple together.
-It's time for a vacation. -Yeah.
Let's meet our home cooks.
Hey, guys!
Giselle, AJ, Anna, welcome to Easy-Bake Battle.
-Thanks. -Thank you.
Before we go any further, I wanna give a very warm welcome
to a chef I respect and admire deeply,
Alisa Reynolds.
-Hello, guys. How are you? -Hi.
Chef Alisa is an amazing chef,
an award-winning restaurateur, a world traveler.
I'm absolutely thrilled that she's here with us today.
Thank you.
[Antoni] All three of you are standing here
because you have the ability to make amazing food look easy.
It's super important for me to cook quickly,
just because I work for a major beauty company.
I have so many time constraints, stuck in a lot of meetings.
I don't have time to go to the bathroom sometimes.
Zhi-selle or Giselle?
-You can call me whatever you... -[Antoni] I like Zhi-selle.
-This is the French way, so I'll take it. -[Antoni] Okay.
I have always loved cooking.
When I'm stressed, I wanna get in the kitchen, play music,
pop a bottle of wine, and just escape.
Then I'm done, and I don't wanna do the dishes, so I have my husband do it.
You're all about to compete for a chance to win $25,000.
And for you, AJ, our reigning champion,
if you win today, and I know you know this, that's $50,000.
-Wow. -That's a lot of dollars.
[Antoni] No pressure. All the pressure.
I wanna show people that I really know what I'm doing.
Even though I'm young, you can find a passion at a young age
and follow through and be as good as somebody else who's older.
I wanna win $50,000 today, 75K the next day,
and 100K the day after that.
-The plan is to bring it home. -[Antoni] Have your head in the game?
-I'm ready. -It's time for your first challenge.
-Are you guys ready? -[Giselle] Ready.
-[Anna] Yeah. -[AJ] I think so.
Grab your sunnies, because we're about to take you on a little vacation.
Right here, right now, it's time for the Dish Dash.
[upbeat music plays]
[Antoni] Here's the situation. You're on a dream vacation.
You and your besties have been sightseeing all day.
Now you're back at the hotel and the squad is hangry.
Since you're the foodie of the group, this is kind of on you.
You need to get everyone fed and fast.
Your Dish Dash challenge is to create an impressive dinner
using only what equipment you find around the hotel room.
[scoffs]
[Antoni] That means a microwave, a coffee maker,
and if you're feeling really bold, an iron and a hair dryer.
Oh!
I love that you're all shaking already.
I can't even imagine trying to cook in a coffee pot or in an iron.
I don't even like to iron.
[Alisa] I have been on many tours,
and I have cooked in many, many hotel rooms.
So if it's got a heat source on it, it can be used as a cooking source.
Chef Alisa and I picked three classic vacation destinations.
Anna, you have Italy.
AJ, you have Mexico.
And, Giselle, you have Hawaii.
This is the ultimate challenge of culinary innovation.
You've got up to 45 minutes to pull it off.
Is everyone ready for the Dish Dash?
-Yeah. -Yes.
Your time starts in three, two, one.
Make it easy!
[upbeat music plays]
Get what you need.
So they basically have to create dishes from their destination
using only what they have in their hotel room.
That's microwave, iron, hair dryer, and a coffee pot.
Kids, don't try this at home. [laughs]
[upbeat music continues]
This is going to be incredible.
The sky is truly the limit. They have so many ingredients.
-I'm interested to see what they choose. -And how that translates to a coffee pot.
[Antoni] And how it translates to a coffee pot.
Get hot.
[AJ] Oh! Okay.
I'm not mad to have Mexico. I love Mexican food. I love to cook Mexican food.
But at the same time, it puts me on the spot,
because Mexican food is known for having lots of spices, flavors.
Gonna have to come up with a recipe on the fly.
I see the avocado. I think avocado crema.
I see spices and pork loin, and I know pork goes well with some spicy sauce,
so I think ranchero sauce.
I really wanna build and develop these flavors.
Okay. [sighs]
I get Hawaii. It has a special place in my heart, 'cause I got married there.
I am going to attempt a dish I remember liking a lot when I was on my honeymoon.
And that's a fried rice with Spam and shrimp.
Who doesn't love rice?
[upbeat music plays]
I love the fact that this challenge makes you test all your ingenuity.
[Antoni] Yep.
I've been there. I've used two irons as a makeshift panini machine.
I would stand in the room with two pieces of bread like this, melting cheese.
I'm not gonna be pressing my shirt with those,
but that's the kind of ingenuity we're looking for.
Figure out what the heat source is
and try to relate it to what you would use in a traditional kitchen
if you had all of your stuff.
What an opportunity to be creative.
All you got to do is hit "brew," right? To turn it on?
I'm gonna try and utilize the iron and the coffee maker
as my main sources of heat.
[sighs] All right.
So the country I get is Italy. It's actually super exciting.
My mom lived in Italy for about six years.
So I feel like I kind of have a good lay of the land.
I'm panting.
So I'm actually being super ambitious, and I'm gonna create three dishes in one.
So I'm going to make a penne pasta
with a Calabrian chili cream sauce
with some Italian sausage and some olives.
I love this. Okay, so Anna's put her iron in between two pots.
-Just to hold it up. -[Alisa] Oh my God.
[Antoni] To have a flat griddle situation.
-Yes. -That's so smart.
She's making her own makeshift induction heat.
She doesn't have to hold it the way that you did.
[Anna] Then I'm going to make a burrata salad on the side,
and some artichokes in a butter, white wine sauce.
I won't drink it. [chuckles]
[upbeat music plays]
I would never cook on an iron in a hotel. I don't know where that iron's been.
I'm actually trying to mold the shape of the iron,
to then turn it around and get it to shape what I want to cook on there.
[upbeat music continues]
They're all ready.
[AJ] This pork loin is extremely thick.
I'm not gonna be able to get it cooked in the 45 minutes allowed to me.
So my first thought is get it thin and get it one unified thickness.
You might use a meat mallet, but I didn't have time to look for the meat mallet,
so I grabbed this pan and I start whaling away.
This guy.
I know.
My sister bought me a meat mallet because I did this and it was so loud.
She's like, "AJ, here's a meat mallet. Can you stop waking up the entire house,
just like smashing meat with a pan at two in the morning?"
[Alisa] I see him with the lime juice.
That's gonna tenderize and cook that meat a little bit.
He's smart on that.
Season this bad boy.
Now the pork's flat, I put it underneath the iron. I let that sear.
I wanna let that go for the majority of the time because it's still thick.
It's dense. I know it's gonna take a while to cook.
I have to hope it comes out perfect.
Gives you a whole new meaning of flat iron steak.
[Antoni] Yes. [laughs]
I'm so used to making rice from scratch.
Six servings.
I'm Latina. I'm making Minute Rice.
If my grandmother was alive,
she would be rolling over.
I'm so good at making rice from home.
A little hack is make your rice in chicken stock.
So I'm gonna pour it in there,
pop that sucker in the microwave, and pray it cooks.
Okay, come on.
[upbeat music plays]
[Giselle] This guy's clean.
Shrimp cooks fairly easy, but because it cooks fairly easy,
it could also lose its flavor very easily.
So I want to make sure that whatever time I have,
I have that marinating in the teriyaki.
This is my hack.
If you're not a great chopper and you're in a rush,
you just have to, like, put those guys in there.
Yes. What's good about this guy? Keeps the crying in there.
Trying to see if I can get these onions
and the carrot to sauté a little bit in here.
This is hot, so I'm gonna try.
When I got married in Hawaii, a lot of people were like,
"You're from Florida. Why'd you go there?"
Dominican people don't do heat. The hair does not take it.
And Dominican people don't like mosquitos. So we got those back home and I was like,
"Where is it can I go that I can get, guaranteed, a really good sunset
and no mosquitoes without humidity?"
So Hawaii it is. Mahalo.
Um, I don't know how to turn it on.
I'm feeling a little flustered.
So I'm going to use the microwave to make my pasta.
You wanna make sure you're not letting the pasta dry out and run out of moisture.
So the hack that I'm using
is to put a lot more water than you actually need
into the microwave-safe bowl.
I am trying to do 3,000 things at once. [chuckles]
I was born in Yokohama, Japan.
And it had always been my dream to live and work in New York City.
I just packed up and left. Met my wife. And so here I am.
You have 30 minutes left.
That went by fast.
[tense music plays]
[AJ] Use a spoon to get the seeds out of the jalapeños.
The next thing I'm gonna do is the sauce.
Ranchero sauce has a lot of peppers, onions, garlic.
Pace already has garlic, tomatoes, everything I need.
It takes time for the flavors to get to know each other,
so my plan is to use almost the entire time
to develop flavor in that sauce, so I can put it on the plate at the last second.
What I think I'm gonna try doing here is using this actual coffee pot.
Right now, I'm making cilantro lime rice with lots of classic Mexican flavors,
like cumin, cilantro, lime, obviously, uh, garlic powder.
Put a bit of turmeric in there 'cause I want the color.
Turmeric is a pretty mild flavor, but it does give a nice beautiful yellow rice.
Rice is going into the microwave.
Five minutes on high, 15 minutes on 50% power.
Never cooked with Spam.
I did take a bite of it. Should always taste what you're gonna cook.
It does taste a little like Dominican salami.
This is on.
I smell something. Oh, it's the smell of Spam on aluminum foil,
and it's coming from Giselle's station.
[Giselle] It's on high.
Let's pray this guy works.
Do we see smoke? I see a little bit of smoke.
[Antoni] I hope it crisps up a little.
-[Alisa] I don't... -I don't want Spam out of a can.
-I wanna heat it up. -No Spam sashimi.
-[Antoni] No. -[Alisa] Please.
Ooh, I hear it. Yes!
[Alisa and Antoni chuckle]
Let me see those guys. Even remotely moving?
My kettle with all my veggies is not warming up as much as I thought.
So all right, we're going to the microwave.
Did she put a coffee pot in the microwave? 'Cause there's metal on that coffee pot.
It's either really gonna work or it really won't, but we'll find out.
Okay. My son, Bryce, loves fried rice.
I like to make what I know my husband and my kids are gonna devour.
I did bring a little picture of my family, so if I get a little sidetracked,
I'll just keep that image in my head
and remind myself why I'm doing this and who I'm doing this for.
Just gonna use whatever we got.
Gonna have to put it in the microwave.
I noticed that the sauce isn't cooking as fast as I want it to.
And I need the sausage to cook faster,
'cause the last thing I want is an uncooked sausage in a sauce.
Oh gosh.
I'm also making a balsamic vinaigrette to prep for the salad.
Always forgetting something.
So I feel a bit anxious that I've taken on too much, but it's too late now.
[Alisa] Oh, look at her cream sauce.
Anna put her coffee pot in the microwave as well, and it worked.
[tense music plays]
Mmm.
Yum.
I know I can do this,
because what's at stake in this competition
is to take my wife on that honeymoon that I've been promising her.
Then second, it's really important for me
to be here to show that people like me can be visible.
I identify as queer and I'm Japanese. I'm a woman.
I wish that I saw people like me when I was growing up.
And I really want to be that example for those little kids back home.
-[Antoni] Eleven minutes remaining! -Oh, this looks so good.
[tense music plays]
While I'm cooking my shrimp on the coffee maker,
I grab the pineapple and I'm like, "I can make this guy into a plate,"
because I remember having that in Hawaii.
Oh, this core is so hard.
But pineapple takes arm to get in there.
Oh shoot.
[Antoni] Giselle's been going at these pineapples.
She's working that bowl, baby.
You got this, Giselle.
I have to kick it up a notch, because if not, I'm not gonna plate on time.
Come on, baby.
[Antoni] If you look at everyone's station...
-And then look at AJ's. -[Alisa] AJ's. Yes.
[Antoni laughs]
It's like a bomb went off. There's a lot of stuff going on.
Ooh.
Are we getting a little bubble in here? Oh!
[sighs]
Four minutes left! Four minutes remaining!
[Anna] Oh my God.
[tense music plays]
[Antoni] Giselle's plating. Great.
You were stressing me out focusing on those pineapples.
-But you got this. You're doing it! -Listen, I lift weights.
I was like, "Come on girl, you work out."
I am so excited to try all three of these. They're so different!
[tense music continues]
[bell dings]
Wait, Giselle's done first. 42 minutes and 15 seconds.
Wow.
[Antoni] Well done!
I'm only worried about that pork loin. I need that to be the perfect temperature.
That's gonna be the star of the dish.
[Alisa] It looks like AJ is checking the temperature of his meat.
I'm a rare girl myself.
-Same, also a rare girl. -[chuckles] Yes!
[tense music plays]
Two minutes left! We have two minutes remaining.
[tense music continues]
Oh shoot! It's just everything's going everywhere.
One minute left! You have one minute remaining.
[tense music continues]
Seven, six...
[Antoni and Kat] Five, four, three, two, one!
-[bells ding] -Oh my God, what! Photo finish!
[sighs] Forgot one thing.
My balsamic vinaigrette.
[sighs]
Shoot!
I realized that I've forgotten to put the balsamic glaze on my salad.
I know that burrata is not gonna taste strong enough to match that pasta.
I'm feeling a little worried.
What was that even? I'm out of here. I'm leaving. I'm done.
-I'm actually going on vacation. -I need a vacation from this vacation.
-Giselle, you're up first. -[Giselle] All right.
You finished in 42 minutes and 15 seconds.
Your destination was Hawaii.
-Yes. -Please tell us about your dish.
Try my shrimp and Spam fried rice.
I cooked the shrimp on the bottom of the coffee maker,
and I heated up the Spam on an iron.
I got married in Maui.
One of the things I had on the island of Lanai was a dish served in a pineapple.
You understand flavor.
-Thank you. -[Antoni] The ginger.
The rice with the chicken broth in there. The layers of it.
The rice is super flavorful for instant rice that was cooked in a microwave.
The shrimp, for me, are actually really nice and tender.
A little thing I probably would've added, maybe a little hit of acid at the end.
A little bit of fresh lime, just that... [clicks tongue].
The layers of flavors are delicious.
It tastes as close to fried rice in a hotel room as you possibly can.
Thank you, Giselle.
[tense music plays]
-Hello, AJ. -[AJ] Hello, chefs.
You tied with Anna in finishing your meal in 44 minutes and 59 seconds.
-Yeah. -Just a reminder.
It was 45 minutes, so you had one whole second to breathe.
-That's a good amount of time. -Your destination was Mexico.
Tell us a bit about your dish.
I made for you, uh, ranchero pork with an avocado crema, cilantro lime rice,
and I also put, on top of the rice, a jicama cabbage slaw.
For the ranchero sauce, I actually used the coffee pot.
[tense music plays]
I was raised in a household where pork should be a little pink.
Yes.
So I really appreciate that there's pinkness to it.
Really great seasoning.
The ranchero sauce hits you in the face in the best way possible.
It's super flavorful.
My one critique for the slaw, for the red cabbage, I would've gone even thinner.
Flavors are totally complementing each other. In terms of the crema, delicious.
The rice, for me, could've been done a little bit more.
It is a little crunchy in the middle. The flavor on that rice is slapping.
-[AJ] Thank you. -Okay, I will slap you.
It's so tasty. I was very, very happy with the dish. Only the rice for me.
-[Antoni] Thank you very much. -Of course.
Thank you, AJ.
Of course, chef.
-Hi. -[Antoni] Hello.
Anna, so you also finished in 44 minutes and 59 seconds.
I can't say it without smiling, 'cause it's bonkers.
Your destination was Italy. Tell us about your dish.
I created a penne with Italian sausage,
olives, in a Calabrian chili cream sauce,
burrata salad, and you have artichoke in a white wine butter sauce.
I tried to use the iron as well as the coffee maker
as my heat sources, had a bit of trouble, so I ended up just using the microwave.
-And I cooked my pasta in the microwave. -Have you ever done that before?
No.
[Anna and Antoni chuckle]
I didn't think you did.
[tense music plays]
For the pasta, I'm surprised
at how actually enjoyable it is, considering you made it in a microwave.
I was pretty shocked. "Shocked" is actually the word.
It's super inviting. It's colorful. I love that the sausage is nicely crumbled.
My only notes for the pasta, I would've included a little bit more of the sauce.
Yeah.
I saw that you had balsamic vinegar at one point.
-I also saw some fig jam. -Yeah.
Where are those?
So I actually forgot to put it on top, which I'm super annoyed about.
So the intention was to have some kind of fig balsamic glaze situation.
Exactly.
Balsamic glaze would've added that necessary acidity.
But the flavor is delicious. I love heat.
I would've loved a little bit more heat. And not everybody loves heat.
I'm just hot, you know. I love burrata. I love the salad.
Love all the colorful notes. All in all, eccellente.
Thank you. Grazie.
-Prego. -Prego.
Every muscle in my body was tight.
My booty is, "Oh, what's going on there?"
It's 'cause you're so stressed, you're clenching.
[tense music plays]
[Alisa] Giselle, AJ, Anna,
unfortunately, we can only choose one winner for this challenge.
The winning dish was a dish that teleported me straight to the region.
And the winner is...
[tense music plays]
-...Giselle. -[sighs]
[Alisa] Congratulations, Giselle.
I've never been in this situation, so I'm not sure how to react.
-Can I do a happy dance? -You do a happy dance.
-I'm Dominican, so wait. -[Antoni] There you go.
-Yes! -[Antoni laughs]
[Giselle] I'm excited to move on. I'm excited for the next challenge.
And, girl, I'm gonna bring my flavors.
Unfortunately, we only have room for one more in the next round.
I'm so sorry to say goodbye to...
[tense music plays]
...Anna.
Thank you. Thanks so much for having me.
Thank you.
I am feeling incredibly sad,
because I wanted to show the world more of what I could do.
Maybe I should've not done the artichokes, and focused on the salad and the pasta.
But I'm really grateful for this experience.
I've learned from my mistakes.
-[AJ sighs] -I see you with that sigh.
I wasn't expecting that if I'm being honest.
[Antoni] AJ, look, it was close, but you had the more cohesive dish.
That said, this is all about making it easy.
-[AJ] Yeah. -You like to complicate things.
You're good at what you do and you're both here for a reason.
But please don't forget the challenges. Take the notes.
It's time for our final round. It's time for the Easy-Bake.
So for your Easy-Bake challenge,
you have to create a dish inspired by one of your favorite vacations.
You'll have one hour to put it together.
As always, for the Easy-Bake,
you'll have to cook your entire meal in the oven.
You'll have 40 minutes to use your ovens.
[Antoni] Either one of you could walk away with cold hard cash
and the title of Easy-Bake champion.
Yeah.
Your time starts in three, two, one.
Make it easy!
[upbeat music plays]
They are off.
[Giselle] Mozzarella, chicken.
Garam masala, turmeric.
The prize is right there and there's only really one person,
you, that would be standing in my way.
I know you want to sing that song from Ludacris. Say it.
Exactly, you know.
-Respectfully, get out the way. -I know, I know. I got you.
[upbeat music plays]
-This is the Easy-Bake round. -Okay.
Our cooks have 60 minutes to prepare an iconic vacation memory.
I'm missing coconut milk.
The ovens are gonna turn on after 15 minutes automatically.
They're gonna have 40 minutes. The food has to be out of the oven
by that 40-minute mark.
Which leaves them five minutes to assemble their dishes and to get it all ready.
-This is so exciting. -No small feat.
What else, what else?
Spaghetti.
I am half Italian, so I love pastas, I love sauce.
Saucy all day.
Saucy! That's gonna be my nickname. Saucy G.
I have decided that I am going to make my chicken parm.
I have a very fond memory of Italy.
It was the first trip that we took together all as a family.
And my son and my husband's favorite dish is chicken parm.
My hack is no pounding and no breading.
I have a little trick up my sleeve. Hopefully the judges will love it.
AJ, his cast-iron skillet in the oven. That is a great hack.
Searing and char on food for texture is something so incredibly important.
With an oven, it's really challenging.
[upbeat music plays]
[AJ] Oh my goodness.
That's a bit of a spill.
-AJ! What are you making? -I'm making a Thai coconut chicken curry.
-Okay. You're gonna make rice in the oven? -I am gonna make rice in the oven.
-Have you ever done that? -I haven't done it myself.
I've seen it done, so hopefully I'll know what I'm doing.
-Okay, so he is a risk-taker. -You're nothing if not consistent.
[laughter]
Taking the judges' advice, I really want to make the process as simple as I can.
When it comes to curry, it's hard to not use a lot of flavors.
But you can make the process of making it very easy.
My plan is to use one skillet for the whole curry.
Get all my ingredients into the skillet,
let the flavors incorporate into the chicken.
I also plan on using the oven to make my rice.
When I was very young, my dad spent some time in Thailand.
He was there for work, but he brought the family with him.
I was able to taste some incredible flavors
from these little hole-in-the-wall spots they had going on.
I really plan to transport these judges. To Thailand is the goal.
[upbeat music plays]
I definitely wanna sear my chicken breast.
I wanna get my skillet in there so that it starts heating up,
'cause in this challenge, I can only use the oven.
-Hey, Giselle. -[Giselle] Yes.
What are you making for us?
[sighs] My hack for chicken parm.
You're gonna make chicken parm in an hour?
I'm gonna try.
That is... a challenge.
Unless she's got some crazy hack that we don't know about.
I wonder if this is a one-pot pasta bake situation.
-With pasta, you don't want to overcook. -[Alisa] Oh my God.
It needs to be al dente, to have that nice bite.
Otherwise, it's just gummy and it falls apart.
-[Alisa] It's mush. -[Antoni] It ruins the dish.
[upbeat music plays]
So one minute until your ovens turn on.
-Oh wow. -Time is flying.
Cool hack for ginger. Use a spoon to peel it.
Uh, it has very, uh, plastic-y skin, which a potato peeler doesn't...
Ow. Ginger juice in my eyeball.
The spoon is able to catch underneath that skin and pull it off a lot easier.
And your ovens are now on, and they will turn off in 40 minutes.
[upbeat music plays]
Now my cast-iron's hot, I take that out of the oven and I hit it with oil.
That's a hot boy. I throw in my onions, garlic, ginger.
And now it's time to add herbs, spices, and some red Thai curry paste.
Stay hot, stay hot, stay hot.
We want him to pick what's easy. But at the same time,
when you make a big risk and it pays off, what's more satisfying?
And you know what, it'll be interesting to know how he can pull himself back.
He used 27 ingredients in the first challenge.
I love cumin. I love turmeric. Just a touch.
Garlic in there, a little extra garlic.
This is the big one, has everything I need. Garam masala. Some extra.
How can he try to rein in his craziness of just wanting to use everything?
[AJ] Cloves, just a touch.
It could be his Achilles' heel, or it could be his Trojan horse.
-We don't know. -[Alisa] We don't know.
Oh my gosh, how am I gonna beat Mr. Know-Every-Spice-in-the-World?
Little bit of tandoori, for color.
Not too many, just a couple.
[upbeat music plays]
Smell that, smell that.
While that's cooking, I've gotta make pasta.
I'm gonna go throw this guy in.
And I am panicking.
I don't know that I can pull pasta al dente in the oven.
Praying to the pasta gods that it doesn't overcook.
I'm gonna do what I do when I'm in a rush.
I try to make my canned sauce seem very authentic.
[Antoni] So this is new to me.
Usage of jarred tomato sauce with whole San Marzano tomatoes.
What's the thought behind that?
So it tastes hearty. Like, I want them to think I simmered the sauce for hours.
Ain't no shame in using a jarred sauce.
[AJ] Get this chicken in.
-[Alisa] There he is. He's pounding. -There he is pounding away.
I wanna get it as tender as possible and impart as much flavor as I can.
I don't have time to cook an inch-and-a-half-thick chicken breast,
so made my life a little easier and thinned it out.
I'm gonna do a spice count, okay? Four, six, eight, ten, 12, 13.
Lucky number 13. We know he has 13 ingredients he's working with.
[Giselle] I don't wanna overcook my chicken.
[tense music plays]
Twenty-five minutes left with your ovens.
[Giselle] I have to top it on the other side.
I need to get my panko, which is on this side.
Panko, panko.
I start melting butter.
I throw in there a little bit of herbs and I'm gonna combine it with the panko.
So I'm using the panko breadcrumbs to go right on top,
just to kind of hide the chicken, make it look like I breaded it.
But I really didn't.
It's a hack because it cuts the time. You don't have to pound the chicken out.
You don't have to be breading it, egging it, dipping it in flour.
You don't need all that.
So once I have my panko right on top, I pour all the tomato sauce around it,
and cheese.
And I am praying this cheese will bubble.
[tense music plays]
While that goes in the oven, I have a trick I'm excited to show you.
-Tell me more. -[Antoni] Wanna know?
-Yes. -What's your take on sushi?
-Love it. -Let's do this.
Okay. What?
So all you need is sushi rice, a little bowl of water,
a selection of literally whatever you want.
Ice-cube tray with Saran wrap.
-You get it already. -I'm done. I never thought of this.
[Antoni] And a little scoop.
Just put in whatever elements you want into the bottom.
Then this scoop gives you the perfect amount of rice.
Then what I do is wet my fingers
'cause you don't want those little grains to stick and then just press it in.
And the best thing about this,
it's literally ready.
Cute!
-[Antoni squeals] -Oh my God.
[Antoni] There you have it. Perfectly little adorable pieces of sushi.
-There's only one thing left to do. -What?
-Eat 'em! -Yes!
It smells pretty tasty if I'm being honest.
Let's see how you're doing, buddy.
Oh, you still need more time.
All right, back in you go.
What's worrying me at this moment is the rice. On the first round,
the judges said my rice could've taken another minute or two.
At this point, it's a waiting game. I'm really nervous.
The majority of my dish is in the oven, so I'm waiting for that to finish.
I wanna run out the clock on that rice.
AJ, taking notes on undercooked rice and firing it back.
Ten minutes left in your cook and under five minutes with your ovens.
Go for a little bit more.
What I really like about Giselle's choice to go with Italian cuisine
is that it's not 50,000 different components.
It's keeping it simple.
I'm gonna make a really zesty mint, cilantro, and basil herb shallot salad.
It has really thinly sliced shallots, except for that one and that one.
Then we have AJ. He was supposed to simplify.
You know what? This might be simple for him.
[upbeat music plays]
Looks good.
I don't want it to get too sticky, so I'm gonna keep it in here.
The Italian in me doesn't like overcooked pasta.
How you doing, baby?
Come on.
I've been good.
Oh.
I've been really good.
A minute left on your ovens!
-[tense music plays] -[Giselle] Got it.
My chicken parm has color. My cheese has a little crust.
And I am so happy. Thank you, oven.
[tense music continues]
Your oven time is up, and that means five minutes left in the cook.
[tense music continues]
[Giselle strains]
-I'm starving and it's looking good. -I know, like, legit.
You should be putting your finishing touches on your dishes.
Think of everything. Are you forgetting anything?
[Giselle] Oh my gosh!
[both] Five, four, three, two, one.
Time is up! Take it easy.
And, AJ, stop stressing me out!
How are we feeling?
-Feeling good. -Nervous.
[Antoni] Giselle, we're gonna start with you.
Okay. So I made chicken parm.
I came up with this dish because it was the first trip
that we took overseas to Europe as a whole family.
-[Antoni] How many ingredients went in? -Twenty-one.
[tense music plays]
Giselle, chicken parm is such a crowd pleaser.
It's so popular. The world knows what it is.
Right.
That said, there's pressure that comes with that, right?
'Cause we've all had it many times.
[tense music plays]
-It's... It's really delicious. -Thank you.
-Perfectly cooked. -Mine as well.
It's juicy. Your breadcrumbs are seasoned really nicely.
The tomato sauce is nice and tangy.
Presentation's beautiful.
I know exactly where I am.
The only note for me is that there's missing a tiny bit of salt
and maybe a little bit of fresh cracked pepper.
Something just to amp up the heat a little bit.
That's my personal preference.
This dish took me to Italy. This dish is a hug.
You feel like home, you feel like Mama, you know?
-I am Mama. -What I love about it is it's simply good.
The fact that this did not get overcooked is genius to me.
Shout out to your kids,
because if they're eating this twice a week, I'm very envious.
Thank you, chef.
[Alisa] But like Antoni said, maybe a little bit more salt.
I would've topped it off with a little Parmesan.
[Antoni] Mmm.
AJ, you're next.
Tell us about your dish.
All right, chefs. Today, I made for you a Thai coconut chicken curry.
My dad worked for a toy company and traveled around the world.
He couldn't leave the kids at home. We ended up going to Thailand.
It was called a vacation, but really we were there while Dad was working.
How many ingredients in your dish?
-Thirty-seven ingredients. -[Antoni laughs]
To be fair... To be fair, at least 20 of them were spices.
[tense music plays]
I've never had anything quite like this. This is so AJ.
It was really successful. I'm not gonna beat around the bush.
-[AJ] Thank you. -[Antoni] I absolutely love this salad.
I had never done that before. That was completely... I had extra time.
It needed that acidity, and there was the right amount of it.
Let's also remind ourselves that you've made rice twice today.
-Didn't go so well the first time. -It didn't, I needed a redemption, yeah.
Rice is...
It's really good.
I love the flavors. Everyone can't just throw a curry together.
Under this time constraint,
you had to live on the edge, and I love that about you.
This whole challenge is watching you not being afraid to take risks.
The only critique about the salad,
it could have been a tiny bit bigger, because I was so in love with it.
-Yeah, I'm sorry. -[Alisa] Um...
-Is that a critique though? -[Alisa] It's not really.
But in terms of the entire dish,
I would order this and love it.
This is going to be hard.
-You know what I mean? -It's not cool.
We taste the love in each one of these dishes.
-[Antoni] You know you're really good? -Thank you.
-You're talented. -Thank you.
[Antoni] Giselle and AJ, why don't you head back to your stations
while Chef Alisa and I discuss?
-[Giselle] Thank you. -[Alisa] Thank you, guys.
A hard decision.
[tense music plays]
What are we gonna do now?
[tense music continues]