[tense music plays]
[AJ sighs]
What do you do? I mean, these are home cooks, and they're really good.
-I know. This isn't work. -[Alisa] Exactly.
-[Antoni] This is personal. -[Alisa] Mm-hm.
-In my opinion, it makes it harder. -Yeah.
-'Cause it's from the heart. -[Alisa] Mm-hm.
The hard decision.
[contemplative music plays]
That was tough.
They...
-It was tight. -Yeah.
We got the same amount of compliments, same amount of critiques.
And the way they were acting makes it seem like it could literally go to anybody.
[contemplative music continues]
I honestly felt like, you know... You don't know this.
I'm talking to the moms right now.
When you get an ultrasound to see if all the parts of your baby are all together,
the lady with the thing is like, "Hm,"
and you're like...
[breathes deeply]
It's like, "Oh God! Spit it out!"
[tense music plays]
AJ and Giselle,
honestly,
we are genuinely blown away by both of you.
Unfortunately, we can only choose one dish to win.
And the winner is...
[tense music continues]
[exhales]
-...Giselle. -[sighs]
[upbeat music plays]
[whispers] Good job.
-[Antoni] Congratulations, Giselle. -Oh my God.
What? I can't believe it.
I feel like doing a dance.
It's the G win dance.
[salsa music plays]
I won. I won! I won. I won, I won, I won.
-What are you feeling right now? -I'm trying not to cry.
Okay. Why do you wanna cry?
[Giselle] It's been a long journey to get here.
My parents didn't think this would be something that would be worthwhile,
because, you know, you come from...
You gotta be a dentist, an attorney.
And, um,
I begged to go to culinary school.
[uplifting music plays]
And I just kept doing it in my house and for the people I love,
and look where it's gotten me.
So I'm just very emotional and grateful.
I want you to be aware of the worth that what you do has.
Just because it's not in a professional capacity...
We're so proud of you.
Thank you so much. Thank you so much.
Hey, you earned it.
[uplifting music fades]
[Antoni] AJ.
You're brilliant.
-[AJ] Really? -You made it really hard.
[Alisa] You're an artist.
A culinary artist, pure and simple.
And I haven't seen this raw talent in a very long time.
-[Antoni] You have a gift. -Yes.
Whether you're gonna go work in a kitchen or go to culinary school,
whatever that journey is,
you're very special.
Thank you. I had all these ideas in my head,
but I didn't have anybody to validate them.
And to have these incredible chefs, after trying other food of amazing chefs,
tell me mine is up to par with theirs,
that makes me feel incredible and lets me know I need to keep doing what I'm doing.
Giselle, you are our new reigning champion.
-With $25,000 in the pocket. -Woo-hoo!
[Giselle] I feel like I could win the $50,000.
But moving on to the next challenge, new competition.
I have no idea who these folks are gonna be.
So I'm just thinking,
"Okay, don't get cocky. Make pretend this is your first competition."
That's what I'm gonna do.
[upbeat music plays]
-[Antoni] Good morning, ladies. -Good morning.
-Hi, everybody. -[woman] Hello.
[Antoni] Welcome to Easy-Bake Battle.
I'm not gonna wait a moment longer to introduce
my extraordinary co-judge of the day.
-The one and only Monti Carlo. -Hey!
I just love saying her name so much. It brings me joy.
[laughter]
Monti is an incredible chef, an award-winning food writer,
and she's been right where you're standing right now as a competitor.
I'm excited to see three incredible women in front of me ready to throw down.
I can't wait to see what you're gonna put on the plate,
because I know it's gonna be good.
[Antoni] We have two new faces here.
Hi, Pam.
Hi, how are you, Antoni?
Tell me everything. Why are you here?
I am gonna show these beautiful young women how it goes down.
-Okay. -Ooh.
And I know some of your favorite foods.
[Antoni laughs]
And I'm blushing already, okay.
[Pam] I'm retired.
Gosh, this is the most exciting thing I've done in so long, I can't even tell you.
-[Antoni] We have Alex. -Hi.
-A former gymnast. -[Alex] Yeah.
-You came to compete. -All day every day.
[Antoni] You're here for the gold.
I'm extremely competitive.
I did competitive gymnastics for 17 years. I did it throughout college.
I mean, I love you, but I want to beat you, you know? [laughs]
Giselle, you are our reigning champion.
But not to stress you out.
-It's a whole new day. -It is.
Pam and Alex, one of you could walk away today with $25,000.
But you have to out-cook Giselle.
-Get that check. -Yeah.
It's time for the Dish Dash.
Today is unlike any other Easy-Bake Battle.
There are two rounds, that's standard.
But we're kinda gonna tell you what both of them are right now.
So here's the situation. You are very, very busy.
You work the old nine to five,
and you've got a social schedule that is intense.
So for your Dish Dash Challenge today, you have to make two meals in one.
[Giselle sighs]
Dinner for yourself tonight
that you can turn into dinner for you and your friends tomorrow.
Cool.
To make this happen,
we're asking you to work with a classic dinner party protein, chicken.
[rooster crows]
But just to be clear, a whole chicken.
It's up to you to break it down and cook it however you see fit,
but you have to stretch that one chicken into two meals.
So you're gonna have 75 minutes to make a chicken dinner for one.
You're also gonna have to prep your second round dish during this round.
Mmm.
[Antoni] The smarter you work now and the more you prep in this round,
the more you'll be set up for success later.
And spoiler alert, the next round, you'll only have 35 minutes
to turn tonight's leftovers into tomorrow's feast.
So prep wisely. Monti and I are rooting for all of you.
But only two of you are gonna move forward to the next round.
-Are you ready? -Yeah.
So your time starts in three, two, one.
Make it easy!
[Monti] Yes!
[upbeat music plays]
[Antoni] This is a two-part challenge.
They have 75 minutes to not only create one dish,
but also use that chicken for a dinner which they're making the following day.
There's so much planning that goes into this.
You don't wanna season it in a way
where it's not gonna complement the flavors on the next one.
[Pam] I'm gonna make, in honor of my husband Frank,
a hillbilly's version of lemon chicken piccata.
Pam! What is a hillbilly piccata?
A hillbilly piccata is when you're a hillbilly and you marry an Italian.
-You got hillbilly Italian. -Oh, girl, I wanna taste that.
I'm gonna take the breast for my lemon chicken piccata.
Not one, but two pressure cookers for Pam.
[Monti] Okay.
[Pam] Then I'm gonna take the rest and pressure-cook that in the Instant Pot,
shred it, and I'm going to make a king ranch chicken casserole
for that second challenge.
Woo, girls! Yes.
I'm an old woman, but let me tell you what,
you'd better watch out.
I can run circles around some people.
Sixty-five or not, you're gonna have a little bit of competition on your hands.
[Alex] All right, let me get my flour.
I'm gonna do a twist on chicken and waffles
and make the waffles sweet potato waffles, because it's a family dish.
I mean, my dad and my mom taught me how to make fried chicken.
I'm not gonna fry the whole chicken. I'm gonna fry the legs and thighs.
And then the second dish that I'm gonna make is gonna be a Cajun pesto pasta dish.
And I'm gonna use the panini press to pan-sear the breast.
Multitasking is gonna be the difficult part.
But I'm a mom of three, so I multitask all the time.
It's gonna be good.
Ooh, this chicken is juicy.
For this challenge, I'm gonna make a pollo guisado with rice.
My kids call it Caribbean chicken.
Okay.
I'm going to use that same chicken for my second meal.
I also wanna switch it up a little bit.
I don't want my guests to know I made that yesterday.
So my intention for round two is to be making a chicken enchilada adobo.
[sighs]
[upbeat music plays]
These recipes, when my grandparents cooked 'em,
it's not like, "Oh, you put this and it's a fourth of a teaspoon."
It's like, "You better be watching, otherwise you gonna miss something."
My grandfather, he was a chef in the Navy.
Whatever he put out, it was gonna be the best.
They were eating good on that ship.
He instilled a love of cooking. My grandmother used to cook.
I mean, yeah, I just learned from the... From the best.
My boys love fried chicken, especially the two youngest.
Oh, it is super important for me to cook quickly.
I'm a personal trainer.
I'm the meet director at the University of Denver for gymnastics.
I'm a mother of three.
My oldest son, Kenan, he's on the autism spectrum.
I wanna win the competition so I can buy a dog.
We wanna train it to be a therapy dog for my son.
Trying to keep it together.
[hillbilly music plays]
Pam, what's the hillbilly component to the piccata?
Love, baby, love.
-[Monti] Oh. -Okay.
I grew up in the Ozarks in Missouri. I'm a hillbilly and darn proud of it too.
A lot of hillbillies didn't have a lot of money.
Most everything brought to the table, my dad went out and hunted or fished for.
Ain't nothing wrong with being a hillbilly.
-Nothing wrong with being a hillbilly. -Nothing!
You just got real touchy.
-I did. -Yes.
Are you ready to go to DR?
We are going to my grandmother's backyard.
It's who I'm thinking of right now. And I know she's here with me.
I learned to cook in my grandmother's kitchen.
As she would be cooking,
she would tell me, "You wanna add this now,"
and she would actually...
She would actually go like this with her hand,
um, and pick me up with one arm so I could smell it.
Let's go, Abuela.
We got this.
[upbeat music plays]
I cook whole chickens a lot.
I can actually butterfly a chicken with my eyes closed. [laughs]
[upbeat music continues]
I've broken down thousands of chicken in my life and it is no problem for me.
[upbeat music continues]
[jaunty music plays]
Supposedly, if you limber those legs up
and get that chicken loosened up and do a chicken dance with it,
it does help to cut that chicken off the bone.
Oh wow.
[upbeat music plays]
[Alex] I like to get a little seasoning on there right now,
so it can sit for a little bit.
I see soy sauce, which is a wonderful way to add umami to a broth.
-[Antoni] Totally. -Yeah.
So one of my hacks, if you don't have browning sauce
and you don't have time to sit there to brown your chicken,
a little olive oil and sugar, wait till it starts caramelizing,
then dump your chicken in.
-[oil sizzles] -Get that sizzle.
I'm gonna make Grandmama's greens in the pressure cooker.
I know that's gonna be risky,
because collard greens are so temperamental
and they take a lot of work, but I don't wanna do a different side
because it just fits with the meal.
The hack for cutting your collard greens,
is just fold them in half and cut off that rib. Really quick.
My mom is the collard greens queen. [laughs]
If I don't execute the greens, she might be a little disappointed.
The pressure cooker definitely cuts the time down.
Greens take normally a good hour to cook, if you're gonna make some good greens.
So it's gonna make it taste really good.
I hope. [laughs]
[funky music plays]
Trying to get this dang leg off... The wing off of this thing.
-[Alex] Pam, what you cooking, girl? -I'mma cooking up a storm over here.
Well, not yet, though. Getting it all ready to go.
[laughs]
I look over and Pam's still got this leg, holding it up, cutting.
I thought, "Come on, girl, cut that leg off." [laughs]
[Pam chuckles]
Come on, you chicken, come on!
It takes an unbelievably long amount of time
to break this chicken down.
I mean, it really kicked me in the booty.
I'm really behind.
[tense music plays]
Okay, I need to do this.
Yeah.
[tense music continues]
[upbeat music plays]
[Alex] Let 'em fry up for a second. See how it goes.
They're making an old woman work really hard.
That's okay with me.
I literally have hot potatoes.
Ho, ho, that's hot. That's hot!
[upbeat music continues]
-She's using every burner available. -What? Really?
How many pots does she have on that stove? I mean... [laughs]
One, two, three, five.
-Holy moly, Batman. -[Antoni] Yep.
I'm gonna start sautéing peppers, cilantro, onion, and garlic.
It's like the Latino trinity.
-Hey, Giselle! -[Giselle] Yes.
-What do you have cooking on the stove? -Rice and pigeon peas with coconut.
[in Spanish] You're cooking pigeon peas!
Pigeon peas!
Ay, mija.
[in English] Yes! Oh, we about to get a treat!
Yes.
[upbeat music plays]
I love that Pam is moving with the food processor.
Pam is one with the food processor.
My husband, an Italian from the Bronx, I met him at 138 pounds.
He's now 275. So, you know, that says something.
It ain't gonna be an Italian dish if there is not some Parmesan cheese in there.
Thirty-five minutes left on the clock!
-Holy cow, that went by fast. -I know.
Uh, rice.
Hopefully, I'm gonna be able to make the rice in 30 minutes,
because it takes exactly 30 minutes.
Then I'm gonna get ready for that second challenge.
[tense music plays]
Come on, baby. Come on, baby. Do it for me, do it for me.
Talk to it pretty and it'll do something pretty for me.
I like to talk to anything that I'm dealing with.
I talk. I'm a talker.
So I talk to my chicken because it might know what I'm talking about. Who knows?
Oh, come on, chicken!
Come on, chicken.
Don't let me down.
[funky music plays]
It looks pretty good. Not too bad.
While all of this is cooking,
I have to prep the chicken for the next round.
I'm gonna use similar seasonings, but I'm gonna add a little bit of cayenne pepper.
Then I'm gonna stick those in the panini press
because that's something I don't have to, like, monitor
while I'm doing all of the other elements.
You girls like-a the butter like I like-a?
-I love butter. -[Pam] I love me some butter.
I live by the butter. That's why I work out.
[Pam] I'm gonna put some of there, there.
Some of there, there.
Get in there, get it with it.
[tense music plays]
[Giselle] It's really not the way I like this rice.
It is not boiling the way I want it to boil.
And I start freaking out, because this rice is never gonna get soft enough.
So I'm like, "Okay, microwave it is."
So I'm gonna pray to the steaming dogs, uh, gods, that this steams.
Not dogs. We don't want dogs in the kitchen.
If that rice isn't to her liking, she will not be happy.
I hope she doesn't serve it if it isn't to her liking. I'd rather not have it.
-[tense music plays] -[sighs]
Come on.
[Pam] Perfect-a-mundo!
All right, ten minutes left, cooks.
-How many? -[Antoni] Ten minutes left in this round.
Ooh! What you talkin' about?
Just want to make sure we don't kill anybody. 189, so it's done.
[tense music plays]
Hey, I might as well taste this, huh?
That's good.
I'm gonna make a little sauce.
So now I'm going to get
all the ingredients that I'm gonna need for my second round.
I'm gonna blend the same seasonings I'm using on my chicken separately.
But I'm gonna travel from DR to Mexico and add adobo peppers.
Even though Giselle is done plating, she's not putting it on the plinth,
which signifies she wants to use all of that time for the next round.
Let's do this.
[Alex] I'm trying to finish this chicken for the next round.
This is for the Cajun basil pesto pasta.
You have four minutes left!
[Pam] Ooh! Rice.
This rice is gonna kick me in the rear end.
It's an important factor and it's not coming out the way I want it to come out.
Cook, cook!
Son of a gun.
[upbeat music plays]
[bell dings]
Oh!
-Giselle's done. -Who's done?
-Seventy-one minutes and 28 seconds. -Okay.
I hope the microwave gods came through.
[tense music plays]
-You want hot sauce? -I'm not saying no to anything.
-I'm a yes-man. -[Alex] I have time to get you hot sauce.
I can get some pepper sauce.
Wow, Alex, bold. Bantering with a minute and a half left?
[Pam gasps]
[Antoni] Ninety seconds.
[tense music continues]
Oh my gosh, this is it! You have one minute left!
Let's go!
[bell dings]
-Pam is done second. -Yay!
-Woo, baby! -Seventy-four minutes and six seconds.
Get it, get it!
-I'm done. -[bell dings]
-Boom, and Alex right behind. -Yes!
[Antoni] 74 minutes and 17 seconds.
-Wow. -Whoa!
[Pam] Hey, girls.
We got it.
[jaunty music plays]
-[Antoni] Hi. -Hi.
So, Pam, please tell us about your dish.
I made a lemon chicken piccata with rice and roasted vegetables.
The rice, I'm...
-I see that. -[Antoni] Be honest.
I'm not happy with the rice.
[tense music plays]
It's undercooked.
Yeah, yeah.
[Monti] You know what?
-It's a wonderful chicken piccata. -Thank you.
[Monti] Vibrant. I'm getting this really incredible citrus note from the lemon.
And I love the brininess from the capers. You drained the capers...
-Yes, I did. -I knew it. I...
-[Pam laughs] -Yes.
Chicken, super tender.
It's delicate. It falls apart beautifully, but still holding together.
Really lovely acid from that lemon.
-The rice, obviously a little undercooked. -Yeah.
I'm personally not offended by it, but I get it. I know it's frustrating.
Pam, thank you very much. This was lovely.
[Monti] Oh!
-Hi, Giselle. -Hi.
Ooh, I'm looking at you. You got a lot of emotion happening.
I do. Thinking about my grandma, my abuela.
This was my favorite dish growing up.
So I hope it's your favorite dish now. [chuckles]
So tell us about your dish.
[Giselle] Um, this is pollo guisado,
which is chunks of chicken sautéed in what we call the Latin trinity,
which is onions, and peppers, and cilantro.
[upbeat music plays]
-[Antoni] Giselle. -[Giselle] Yes.
You have been the flavor queen since you entered this stage,
and you continue to be.
[Giselle] Awesome.
[Antoni] The rice is bright,
and just having the hunks of the chicken with the dark meat,
it just feels like home.
You just took me back to my childhood.
Oh my God. Did you just make me cry with your dish?
Look, the rice, it's cooked through.
There's flavor in there, and the gandules are wonderful, okay. You killed it.
-For real. -[sighs]
Okay.
-[Monti] Did you brine the chicken? -[Giselle] I didn't.
I would've brined it, because everything is so flavorful,
but if you're tasting just the chicken, there is no flavor.
-[Antoni] Thank you very much. -Thank you, guys. Thank you so much.
[tense music plays]
-[Antoni] Hi, Alex. -Hi.
Alex, tell us about your dish.
[Alex] So I made fried chicken
and sweet potato waffles and collard greens.
Couldn't hear what you were saying because the crunch of my chicken...
-Oh, good. -Was so high.
[tense music plays]
Alex, your chicken is crunchy.
It's tender on the inside. It's perfectly seasoned. The waffle is really nice.
I do like the chunks of the sweet potato in there.
The pecans offer, like, a really nice nutty crunch.
Only thing that I would say,
I have to be critical of the seasoning on the collard greens.
Salt would've rounded it out.
-Absolutely. -[Antoni] With the sweetness.
I am absolutely in love
with this waffle.
It's so, so yummy.
This waffle is intricate, and actually it's nice and fluffy.
I mean, obviously the chicken is the star of the dish.
-You really made it the star of the dish. -Oh, good. Okay.
-[Monti] I mean, incredible. -Thank you very much.
[Pam] G and Alex, I immediately took to both of them.
-If I were younger, they'd be my gal pals. -Excuse me, we're still gal pals.
-Girl power is all the way the way to be. -Mm-hmm.
Pam, Giselle, Alex, well done!
[laughter]
I'll be starting off with the good news.
The winning dish belongs...
[tense music plays]
...to Giselle.
Oh God.
Thank you.
[Monti] Congratulations.
-Thank you so much. Thank you so much. -[Antoni] Giselle, congratulations.
You're the first chicken dinner winner. Try to say that five times fast.
-[laughter] -No, I'll pass. [laughs]
Now it's down to Pam and Alex.
The cook going home is...
[tense music plays]
...Pam. I'm so sorry.
[Pam] Aw.
This is the end. My rice kicked my rear end.
It happens.
You're awesome.
Thank you, Pam.
Thank you, guys. You all saw me run laps around those kids in that kitchen.
Do not think because you're a certain age, you have to act that age.
Keep having fun in life.
Giselle, Alex, the next Easy-Bake champion is standing in front of us.
Now it's time for our head-to-head round, the Easy-Bake.
-So you already know what's going on. -Yes.
For your Easy-Bake challenge, you have to make a chicken dish
fit for a fancy-schmancy dinner party.
You'll have just 35 minutes to cook your dinner party dish.
Your ingredients for this challenge is the leftover chicken from the Dish Dash
plus whatever mise en place you were able to prep and organize.
As always, you'll have to make your entire meal in the oven.
And you'll only have 25 minutes to use the ovens.
Whoever wins this round will be our Easy-Bake champion
and will come back for the next challenge for a chance to win again.
The Easy-Bake starts in three, two, one.
-Make it easy! -[Monti] Oh, yes!
-Only 35 minutes. -Oh my goodness.
This is where you're gonna tell who made a good plan.
So they have 35 minutes total to execute this entire dish.
Five minutes before their ovens turn on.
Once those ovens are off after 25 minutes,
they have five minutes left for plating, presentation.
-I mean, there's no time here. -No.
[upbeat music plays]
[Antoni] Both Giselle and Alex put their cast-iron skillets in the oven.
They take the longest amount to heat up, but the reward...
-Worth it. -Can get that char on something.
It holds heat better than a regular cookie sheet.
-That rhymed without even wanting it to. -Okay.
-Who am I? Am I a poet? -[Monti] I love it.
[tense music plays]
[Alex] I'm gonna make a little pesto.
All right, I'm gonna start my chicken.
I'm making enchiladas.
I'm just gonna put chicken in some tortillas
and make adobo cream.
Get that guy flavorful. I wanna take the flavor town from DR to Mexico.
It is a trip around the world with G.
Even though it's a 90-minute flight for me.
[laughs]
Oh my God, I feel like I should've worked in the ER.
[upbeat music plays]
I'm making a Cajun basil pesto pasta.
I'm gonna make something that my husband and his friends love.
It's gonna be a little tricky reducing sauce in the oven,
but I think the reward will be well worth it if I take the risk.
Ooh, this chicken's already done. Thank goodness I prepped it earlier.
[Antoni] Hey, Monti.
-Got a hack for leftover chicken? -This is one of my favorite hacks.
It breathes new life into a classic chicken dinner.
Okay.
[Monti] Okay, I'm gonna take prepackaged biscuits,
press them in a lightly-greased muffin tin.
Take your leftover chicken, dice it up into nice small pieces.
-Campbell's cream of chicken soup. -[Antoni] Mm-hmm.
AKA childhood.
[Monti] Yes. Treat it almost like a mayonnaise.
Add a little milk just to thin it out.
Then take any vegetables that you have left over and just spoon it in.
Pop it in a 350-degree oven for 25 minutes.
[Antoni] That's awesome.
[Monti] Ooh.
-[Antoni] Oh my gosh, I smell it. -Look at this crust.
-I love that. -Cheers.
-Yes, cheers. Cheers to you. -Aw.
Ovens are on. You have 25 minutes with your ovens, cooks.
Use that time wisely.
[sizzling]
Since I can't use the stove, I'm gonna boil my pasta in the oven.
I'm cooking my pasta in chicken broth.
Alex just put stock in a brimmed sheet pan which she's gonna cook the fettuccine in.
-[Monti] Oh. -[Antoni] Fettuccine is tricky.
Those noodles can stick to each other. I don't know, but if I'm at a restaurant
or at home and you get clumps of that, no bueno.
-That's Spanish for "not good." -[Monti laughs]
[upbeat music plays]
[Giselle] Time is definitely of the essence.
I wanna make sure that I can create my sauce in the oven.
I'm gonna throw my butter in there and all my chopped-up onions and peppers,
so I can infuse all those flavors.
-[Alex] How you doing? -[Giselle] Breaking a sweat.
[Alex] Breaking a sweat? That's good.
[Giselle] My next step, I'm gonna make sure my tortillas feel a little workable.
And a little hack that I have is that you pour a little bit of chicken stock
and just gently dip those guys in there.
It just makes it more pliable and it adds a little bit of flavor too.
-Just over 15 minutes left! -[Monti] I can't... I cannot deal right now.
Okay.
[tense music plays]
Is it a smoothie? Is it a cream sauce? I don't know. Hope it's a cream sauce.
[Monti] Yes.
I'm gonna cook the shallots
and the garlic a little bit.
Then I'm gonna add in my cream.
Come on, baby.
Shredding my chicken and putting it inside those tortillas.
I am hoping that the tortilla is gonna soak all that flavor.
[upbeat music plays]
I love cheese, so I put extra cheese.
Nobody's complaining about extra cheese.
And I throw that into my oven.
[Alex] I gotta take it out.
[upbeat music plays]
[Alex] I put the cream in.
[Antoni] There's something a little silent killer about her.
-[Monti] Yes. I see it. -'Cause she's a quiet one.
Got my basil pesto going down.
Close the doors!
Close them!
Please close the doors!
[coughs]
-Close the doors. -Close the doors.
I hope it reduces in time.
I mean, it's been like a whole minute of that door being wide open.
That is not up to temperature anymore.
It's so horrible when you leave things wide open for heat to escape!
Yeah.
-Oh my God. -[Antoni laughs]
Jeez.
I mean, ooh, Lord.
Good looking out. I appreciate it.
Just gonna make a little citrusy salad, because my guest loves citrus.
I actually make this salad a lot.
My son Jace is a vegetarian
and he'll add this salad to anything.
It cuts the heat from the enchiladas.
Shoot!
Seeds are not good in a salad.
[tense music plays]
[Alex] Oh, my pasta.
That was my... I was nervous about the pasta!
Four minutes left with oven time! Use it wisely.
It's not exactly what I want.
-How's that pasta, Alex? -[Alex] It's doing okay.
I don't know.
[laughs] It's not too bad. I need to take out all the nasty parts.
Yes, yes, yes.
[tense music builds]
-Just over one minute left on your ovens! -Oh.
[tense music stops]
[upbeat music plays]
Giselle, are you dancing?
It's my happy dance.
I do a lot of this.
When I taste something, I'm like, "Oh yeah."
If the outfit looks cute, I test it,
if I'm dancing to see, "Yeah, these shoes work."
And then with my food, I dance.
I don't know. Am I the only one that dances?
[salsa music plays]
Less than 30 seconds left with your ovens.
If there's anything in there, they have to be out before the timer gets to zero.
-All right. -Get it, Alex!
-[Alex] Thank you. -[Antoni] Get it.
[tense music plays]
-Nice! -Yes!
[Antoni] Oh, that's the sauce. It's steaming.
That means it's reduced.
-That means I am happy. -Yes.
[Antoni] Ovens are off in three, two, one.
[Monti] Oh my gosh!
That's it. Your ovens are off. You have five minutes left.
[tense music plays]
[bell dings]
Giselle is done.
[Alex gasps] Good job, girl.
Three minutes left, Alex. Three minutes remaining.
[tense music plays]
[both] Five, four, three, two, one!
-Bing! -Boom! Alex is done.
Holla at ya girl. Let me know when you want me to serve you up.
So, Alex, let's start with your chicken.
What did you prepare in round one to help you facilitate round two?
Just the chicken.
Just the chicken?
Alex, tell us about your chicken dish.
[Alex] I made Cajun basil pesto pasta
and it has a cream sauce that reduced down in the oven.
[tense music plays]
Bon ape-yum. Okay?
[Antoni] Alex, the chicken is nice and tender. Your pasta's cooked perfectly.
The fresh tomatoes with that necessary pop of color.
It's inviting. It looks decadent.
Thank you.
-If have to be nit-picky about things... -Yeah. Okay.
Even though this is like a rich, velvety, creamy sauce that's really layered
with all kinds of different components,
it's just a tad bit oily for my liking.
Okay.
-Alex, what a presentation. -Thank you.
[Monti] So bountiful. So full of energy and joy.
It's perfect for a dinner party with friends. The chicken is perfectly cooked.
The only critique I have is I really wish that the tomato was quartered.
It's not pretty, right? That's the only critique.
Giselle, ma belle, you're up next.
What ingredients, the chicken included, did you prep in the first round?
I did all the veggies that I was gonna use
to bring out the flavor in the chipotle sauce.
So I chopped up all my onions, my cilantro, my garlic.
The chicken, I did all that in the first round.
I wanna hear about this dish.
I made chicken enchilada adobo
and made a salad with a bit of acidity to cut the heat.
I'm really loving the crispy edges.
And this heat that I'm getting at the very end of the bite.
It's wonderful because the creamy sauce covers my entire palate
and then with the acidity from this salad, it's just perfect.
I love the fact that your tomatoes are quartered. I'm not throwing shade.
[laughs]
Really, the only thing that this dish is missing is that textural component.
The tortillas are very doughy.
I would definitely not have soaked them first, and I would've crisped them up.
That way they could take that cheese without it soaking in.
-Incredible dish. -Okay, thank you.
Your dishes invite us with their vibrancy and their color.
It's like I know a Giselle dish when I see one.
My only critique, I'm a big salad guy. I'm all about not over-dressing a salad.
A little too much vinaigrette for my liking.
This is a completely different dish than your first round.
Thank you for that. It could be anybody's game right now.
I know that she's got the flavor.
I liked Giselle's dish and she's super detailed. Like her eyebrows are on point.
I bought a thing in Italy that says,
"When I die, I wanna be cremated 'cause I don't trust anybody with my eyebrows."
-I'm the only one that does my eyebrows. -[Alex laughs]
Giselle and Alex,
each of you made some incredible dishes today.
This decision was incredibly difficult and really came down to the details.
Yes, it did.
And the winner is...
[tense music plays]
...Giselle.
Oh my...
[Antoni] Congratulations, Giselle.
[applause]
You did great.
$50,000!
Oh my God, that's so exciting just saying it.
Hug it out, but I have to ask you, how are you feeling?
[sighs]
[exhales]
I'm just... I'm just emotional.
I just envisioned myself in my own kitchen,
doing something that I would want to serve my guest.
And the fact that it got me $50,000
just means I'm in tune with myself.
I've worked hard at listening to my gut.
-Alex, you are an incredible cook. -Thanks.
I don't want you to ever doubt that. And your family is very lucky to have you.
Thank you.
Giselle, you just won $50,000,
and you're moving on for the chance to win $75,000!
Alex and Giselle, thank you so much for being here on Easy-Bake Battle today.
-It was really an honor to eat your food. -Yes.
-And, Monti, you're a star. -Aw!
-Hey, Ilan! Welcome. -Hey, happy to be here.
-It's time for a New Year's celebration. -Let's do it.
-Shall we get the party started? -Yes.
Let's go.
[theme music plays]