Selena + Chef (2020) s01e09 Episode Script
Selena + Daniel Holzman
1
[upbeat music]
- Okay.
All right.
Hey, guys, it's Selena.
People who know me know that I love to cook.
Except I have no idea what to do or how to do it.
Okay, I'm miked. Got my tea.
So I've asked some of the best chefs
to school me.
They're at home. I'm at home.
And we're gonna make a meal together apart.
Let's do it.
I'm trying, I'm trying ♪
Oh, trying, I'm trying, I'm trying ♪
My feelings on fire ♪
- [laughs] Hi, Daniel.
- Hi--how exciting is this?
- This is very different, right?
- It's like you came over,
except my kitchen got nicer.
- [laughs]
Today I'm working with chef Daniel "Halzman."
[bleep] Holzman, I apologize.
Today I'm working with chef Daniel Holzman.
He's a chef, restaurant owner.
He's an entrepreneur,
and he's also an experienced cooking teacher,
which is good because I need schooling.
Well, I am very, very honored
that you have let us into your kitchen.
What are we making?
- Ten years ago, I started a restaurant
called The Meatball Shop in New York City.
We make 60 different types of meatballs,
so we're making mini chicken meatballs.
- Oh, awesome. - With fresh gnocchi.
- Yum.
- Your friends are gonna be so proud of you
because this is probably gonna be
one of the more challenging recipes
that you've cooked so far.
It is a little bit intimidating.
- Oh, no.
- So there have been some bets placed
on whether we pull this one off, so--
but I guarantee-- [laughs]
- All right, I'll take my own bet then.
I bet you I do it.
- This is like you're onstage
somewhere where, like, your fans aren't sure
if they love you yet, and you're gonna win them over.
This is gonna be a big--
this is the biggest moment of your life.
You're gonna look back and be like,
"I could have failed, but I just crushed it.
- Okay, I accept the challenge.
- Should I come say hi? - Oh, yeah.
Sorry, this is my best friend Raquelle.
- Hello.
- I'm Raquelle, hi.
- You're about to be the recipient of, like,
one of the most delicious meals
you've ever had in your whole life.
- Okay, well, I'm gonna be on the couch till then.
- Okay, okay.
What do I need to do? Let's go.
- The first thing that we're gonna do is prep everything.
I wanna get all of my ingredients and make sure
they're within a hand's reach so I'm not like,
"Oh, my God, I need the olive oil.
The meatballs are burning" and running to the fridge.
So let's just gather all of our ingredients.
You need ground chicken. - All right.
- Where do I have my stuff?
Eggs, parsley, olive oil, and bread crumbs.
- Getting the hang of this.
- I will say that you're wearing a very white outfit.
Wearing all white when you're about to embark on a recipe--
you see what I've got going?
You gotta cover up, because you are gonna be
splattered, and that's gonna be a whole situation.
- It's, like, not my style.
- Everyone will be like,
"You're the guy that ruined Selena Gomez's tank top."
- This tank top was, like, $5.
Okay, how's this?
I feel like I look-- - Cute!
It's so cute. I love it.
- I find that when I tie my apron a little bit lower,
it makes me look a little slimmer.
It's like a chef Spanx.
- [laughs] You're so funny.
- All right, so why don't we go ahead and just get
chopping the parsley out of the way.
- Okay.
- So I take the whole bunch,
give it a little roll like this,
and just kind of chop the leaves like that.
- Okay.
- Meatballs, they're a peasant food.
The whole idea was
we don't have a lot of money,
we take a little bit of meat,
and we make it go a long way
by mixing in lots of ingredients.
- All right, how's that?
- I think that looks absolutely perfect.
Do you have a bowl with the chicken ready?
- How is this size? - That looks great.
The number one mistake that home cooks make
is not putting stuff in big enough bowls
to be able to mix freely,
and then it feels claustrophobic.
- I totally forgot the chicken. Okay.
- Before you get your hands dirty,
we might as well just preheat our oven
to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Convection?
- You know, you have a fancier oven than me.
Um, yeah, let's go convection. - I love convection.
Okay.
- The parsley can go right in the big bowl.
So we've got our chopped parsley.
Now when you make meatballs, there's a magic ratio.
For every pound of meat, if you put a teaspoon of salt,
1/4 cup of bread crumbs, and 1 egg in,
you get a perfect meatball. - Yep.
I love that.
- So chicken in the bowl with the parsley.
- All of it? - Is that 2 pounds or so?
- Yeah. - How hungry are you?
- Very. - Okay, all the chicken.
- Okay.
- Two eggs are gonna go cracked right on top.
So no shell.
- Whoops, oops, oops. - Crack 'em on a flat surface.
You're less likely to get shell in the meatballs.
I always figure, if you get a little shell in there,
it's a meatball, there's a lot of texture anyway,
and, like, who's gonna notice? - [laughs]
- 2 teaspoons of salt,
a quarter cup of dry white wine.
Dry in wine, if you don't know this already,
is the opposite of sweet.
- I don't know how to open wine.
- Do you have a wine opener?
Then it's gonna be really challenging.
Do you have a sledgehammer?
- Liz, is there a wine opener?
- I thought that, of all the challenging areas
of the recipe, I wasn't sure that this
was gonna be the hang-up.
- That? What the hell is that?
Push me up.
- I need to film you doing this, though, babe,
'cause this is great content. - This is ridiculous.
- You can do it.
[orchestral music]
- Why are you just filming me?
- 'Cause this is hilarious.
- Did you consider a career in climbing?
- Liz! Liz!
We need you to help. Come.
- I feel so inadequate right now.
Why is your wine opener so much radder than my wine opener?
- I don't know.
- This tiny thing is embarrassing.
- This is a gift, okay? I didn't know.
- Well, you have great, generous friends.
I'd love to talk you through how to use that thing,
but, you know, unless you have a manual--
- Oh, dear gracious--
[jaunty classical music]
Okay.
- So lift the handle up.
No, I think you gotta pick the wine up
and then squeeze it. - Oh, I do.
I squeeze it.
- You squeeze those handles over there,
and I think that holds it in place.
Then pick that lever all the way down.
That is the most ridiculous and awesome wine--
- [laughs]
This is gonna be great when people come over.
You're like, "Let me get the wine opener."
- Now what do I do?
- Now I think you keep squeezing it
and then reverse the handle.
- I'm scared I'm gonna drop it.
- Now grab the bottle, release the handle,
and voilà, as they say in French.
- No, it didn't work!
♪
[laughs]
And I was gonna be so impressed.
- Do that again, but don't release the handle
and just pull the bottle down, I guess?
That doesn't sound right.
- Come here, I need your help. - Coming.
Okay, what do you want me to do?
- Hold this so tight together.
♪
[laughter]
- This is definitely a multi-person operation.
♪
- Are you gonna hold it? - Don't elbow me.
♪
- It worked! - Whoo!
- Wow. - That's so extra.
- I would keep that prominently displayed.
I would never put that away again.
That's definitely--yeah, that's a prize possession.
- All right, now what? - Well, I have no idea
where we were-- I've completely lost track.
- We're white wine now.
- Yeah, quarter cup--and this one I would measure out
'cause you don't wanna put too much white wine
or they'll be too wet, and then you'll have
a hard time rolling them. - Okay.
Yum--ugh.
- So we have 1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds.
Do you have pre-ground
or do you have whole fennel seeds?
- These are ground. - Okay, great, that's perfect.
I'm gonna grind mine fresh.
I kind of like the fact that there's, like,
a little extra texture from, like, the little bits
of chopped up fennel. - Okay, good to know.
- Yeah, you know, a little tip, a little chef-y thing.
Like, if I was just on stage, you'd be like, "You know,
"if you moved your legs and hands simultaneously,
"you would look like you're dancing
instead of looking like a, you know, pterodactyl."
But, you know, you could, like, throw that tip my way.
- I always make sure I look like a pterodactyl onstage.
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper.
Chef chef-y chef chefs are all about the pepper grinder.
We're like a real fresh ground
type of people 'cause it makes us feel, you know
- Chef-y. - Like we're cooking.
Bread crumbs, 1/2 cup.
This is the fun part. We're gonna mix it.
There's a real misconception
that you're not supposed to overmix.
You can really get your aggression out.
- Oh, this feels so weird.
- Would you feel like,
if you were to roll those up right now,
they would turn into kind of like a nice, firm meatball,
or are they a little bit wet? - They're a little wet.
- Just sprinkle a little bit more bread crumb on there.
You don't want it to be dry,
but you definitely want it to hold together.
- I'm learning. - That looks really great.
So why don't we grab a sheet tray,
and we're gonna put a piece of parchment paper on there.
- Oh, we have to tell you a story about the paper.
We had a little issue last week.
Basically the paper got caught on fire in the oven.
- TMI--I was having a rough day as a female.
- Just having a rough day, so I just lit the place on fire.
I was like, "You know what?
"If I can't get out of here,
I'm gonna invite the fire department over."
- Seriously.
- I've got a great trick for you
that you're gonna be so excited about
with this parchment paper.
The problem with parchment paper
is 'cause it was in a roll, it tends to curl up.
My stuff is flat because I'm, like, a chef guy
so I got cool parchment paper,
but just cut the right size piece off.
You don't have to be perfect about it.
- I'm sorry, but I don't wanna burn.
It's gotta fit perfectly in this thing.
- I'm with you, so if you wet your hand
and just kind of, like, you know,
flick some water on the tray, then when you put
the parchment down, it, like, sticks to the tray
and won't fall off. - Love it.
- Ye-ah.
You feel like a real chef. - Ooh!
That's awesome.
That is a trick I will be doing from now on.
- You know, ice cream scoop
is a great tool for making meatballs
because it makes it really, really easy.
We're gonna just drop it right on the board.
Yep.
- This is so fun.
- Your meatballs are looking really great.
I'm happy, 'cause if it was a disaster,
I would feel really embarrassed.
- I wanna know if you bet that I could or couldn't.
- I would never ever doubt you.
I don't imagine you became, like, super world superstar
by not being hardworking and intelligent.
- Thank you. I try.
- You know, you're doing great.
Have I said that enough?
- You know, I could hear it more.
I'm just kidding.
[upbeat music]
- The first, like, month of quarantine,
I was, like, full-blown steak eater
all day long, and then I knew it got to a bad point
when my sister-in-law bought me a scale as a gift.
- Oh, my God.
- I was like, "Whoa, that is so on the nose."
Like, that is not even a hint.
She was just like, "I bought you
this amazing scale. It tells your calories."
- Shows how much weight you've gained.
- Chicken in the oven. - Okay.
- And we're gonna check on these
after about 12 or 14 minutes.
- Should I look?
- I think we should look together.
I'ma check mine out.
Pull them out. - Are you sure?
- Yeah, those are gorgeous. - They look yummy.
- Someone told me that you didn't know how to cook.
You're ahead of the game.
- [snaps] That's right.
- So let's just get the gnocchi going.
I'm glad that we're doing the gnocchi second
because I wanna remind you that this is
the really, really hard part that, you know,
you should build your confidence up for
and be super nervous. - Okay.
- You're like, "Okay, no problem, got this."
The potatoes are gonna take about 15 minutes.
Why don't we get those in the microwave.
The recipe calls for about 2 pounds,
so just throw 'em on the scale,
and let's see what it looks like.
- All right, 2 pounds, 9 ounces.
- Perfect. We're going to
poke the potatoes
like one, two, three, four.
Stab 'em like they're an ex-boyfriend.
Just get in there and feel real aggressive and angry.
Get your aggression out to poke 'em in,
and, you know, don't stab your finger.
Don't do that.
[orchestral music]
You did a great job with that.
- It definitely helps when you give me inspiration.
It's working.
- You're just not an angry person.
You're, like, a happy, nice person.
- I do like to think I'm a nice girl,
so bad things shouldn't happen to me.
♪
- Okay.
[music intensifies]
- Selena!
♪
- Eventually stop stabbing the potato.
- [sighs]
[dramatic end chords] Kay.
- You're gonna break the fork.
- It's all good.
- Throw 'em in the bowl, and then we're gonna
put 'em in the microwave. - Okay.
- You can bake the potatoes, but it takes, you know,
like, an hour to bake a potato.
So the potatoes are gonna come out of the microwave.
They're gonna be piping hot.
We're going to peel them, so rubber gloves
will help you not to burn yourself,
so get a pair of rubber gloves.
- Okeydokey.
- While we're waiting, I like spinning the sheet pan.
- Wow.
- It's a kitchen trick that I feel like
you could definitely work on.
Perhaps you have a sheet pan that you'd like to work with?
- Oh, [bleep]. Okay, ugh.
♪
[screams]
- Oh, my gosh. - Try it--come here.
Mine was pretty long. - No!
- You know, this is actually a lot easier
if you do something smaller like a porcelain plate.
- No, we're gonna break the plate.
- Why on Earth would I use porcelain?
[screams]
- You did a really amazing job.
- Everybody laugh at me now, okay?
- [laughs]
- So listen, this thing is a potato ricer.
Do you know about these things already?
- I've never used this before.
- This thing is really cool, and it's great
for ricing the potatoes - Ooh.
and it fits in a medium-sized bowl.
Once we make these gnocchi, we're gonna cook them
in a big pot of boiling water,
so we might as well get our water started.
The trick to cooking pasta is cooking it in lots of water.
♪
You know, the reason you wanna use lots of boiling water
is that when you put the pasta in the water,
you don't want the water to cool down
because then it'll get, like, gummy and chewy.
- Oh. - Uh-oh.
Yeah, definitely, 100%--
definitely don't wanna boil the dry pot.
- Like fill it up maybe to the little knob?
- Yep, yep, yep.
We're gonna cook the pasta in the pot,
but then we're gonna finish it in the pan with the sauce
so it, like, soaks up the sauce
and cooks all the way through. That's the trick.
- Like it, all right.
- Talk to me--potatoes. Are they ready?
It could be a really hot bowl, so be super careful.
- I think these are done.
- Let's pull them out. - Okeydokey.
- When you put out a music video
that's like, "I need a boyfriend,"
do you get, like, a million people
that are like, "I'll be your boyfriend."
- To be honest, the guys that are bold enough to hit on me
are not my type, and the guys that
I would love for them to hit on me
would not set foot near a pop star.
I think the idea of me is too much for people
who I actually am attracted to.
- I get that all the time.
I'm like, "I understand how you would be intimidated
to hit on me," but, like, they don't actually ask me
for my number ever because they're just too nervous.
Our potatoes are ready,
so you're gonna cut your potatoes in half.
You can just take it in your hand,
and you can give it a squeeze.
You'll notice the potato will just fall out of the skin.
- It's so hot. It is hot as hell.
- Don't tempt the devil, girl. It is not that hot.
- I wake up and look in the mirror,
and I say, "Not today, Satan."
- That could be another hit, you know?
- Not today, Satan, not today ♪
- This is the fun part.
As you turn it, you're gonna push down,
and you're gonna see that it's pushing the potatoes
through the little holes.
- This is really hard. - I get it.
- I tried-- this will be sturdier.
- Need some help? - Yes.
My sous chef. - Now sous chef is here.
This is fun!
- You're going the wrong way, yeah.
- Oh, a little tougher. - Less fun.
- Okay, let me try to do this again.
I feel like I got one good one left.
- You're like, "I'm gonna get every bit
of this potato through--100%."
- Oh, it looks so good. - Yes.
- Whoo! - So moving on.
I've got one egg out.
- So one egg.
- Yeah, one egg we're gonna need.
So we're gonna dust our cutting board
with a little bit of flour.
So you dusted it with flour. - Liz!
- I don't know where Liz went. - Liz!
- Taste it--is it sugar?
- Is this flour? - We need you.
- Because I think Nana stole my flour.
- It's a flour situation.
- Never mind. - Oh, we're good?
- Here, I don't know what that is.
Maybe put that away.
- [laughs] Coffee creamer.
- That would have been terrible, but very funny.
I would've made fun of you a lot,
but it would've been really terrible.
- Yeah. - Okay.
So now the potatoes that you just riced,
we can dump them right onto the floured cutting board.
You got the bench scraper? - Just got one.
- You're gonna make a little well
with your fingers. - Okay.
- And you can dump your egg
right in there.
Take, like, 1/2 a cup of your flour.
Just, like, sprinkle it over the top.
Use your bench scraper-- so we're just gonna kind of,
like, cut it so that we're mixing the egg in,
and we're gonna use our hands just to gently kind of
knead it together, and then let's add in
a teaspoon and 1/2 of salt you can season it with.
And then once it's all kind of come together,
use both hands, and you're gonna knead it
enough that it comes together into a wet dough.
Wow, you're doing a great, great job.
- Thank you.
- You're gonna take your bench scraper,
and you're gonna cut off
a little piece of the dough like that.
Just really gently with our fingers,
we're gonna roll it until it's like a penny-thick log.
You're gonna take some flour, and just make it snow
right over the whole log.
Really gently just cut straight through
at a diagonal, and you can make little pillows.
- Oh, this is fun.
- Those are really, really perfect.
You're doing a great job.
- Diamonds on my wrist, so they call me ice cream ♪
You can double dip 'cause I know you like me ♪
I know that my heart can be so cold ♪
But I'm sweet for you, come put me in a cone ♪
- Whoo! Did I do a good job?
- Those look as close to perfect
as anybody who I have ever seen--
first time gnocchi maker make.
- Thanks. - Why don't you toss
the meatballs in the oven to get those warmed up.
And now we're gonna salt our water
about a 1/4--oh, my God.
I just dumped salt all over the place.
- No. - Ugh.
My professionalism out the window.
Here I am all cool, calm, collected, and confident,
but inside I am shaking
like a teenager at a Selena Gomez concert.
- [laughs] - God.
- So cut off, like, a tablespoon of butter.
- Okay.
- And just put the butter in the pan,
and then throw a little
olive oil in there as well.
Let's take the gnocchi on this guy here,
and, gently, we're gonna just slide them
into the water.
- I love potatoes.
- Everybody loves potatoes. Potatoes are so delicious.
And you see how your gnocchi are starting to float?
That's kind of like how you know that they're done,
so let's gently scoop out those floating gnocchi.
- And then put it in the pan? - Drop them in the pan.
And I hear from the sizzle that you're doing a great job.
- Thank you. That's really pretty.
- With a spatula, just gently scrape under them.
Make sure that they're not sticking.
Kind of, like, just turning every single one over
to kind of make it nice and browned on the other side.
- Okay, I think I should take mine out.
- Awesome. - Good grief.
Ugh, some of these are burnt. - You know what?
Honestly, a little crispy and a little burnt
is actually gonna be delicious.
You don't have to worry. - I don't know.
Like, that one seems burnt.
- Mmm.
- That's what I'm talking about.
Did you just hear what she just said?
She gave you such a big "mmm." - Yum!
- Can you not eat all of it though?
- Mmm, mmm! I'm gonna be over here.
- The next step is we're gonna finish our dish.
We're gonna need the parmesan cheese.
You have your brown pepper at the ready?
- Yes, I do. - You have your lemon?
- Yep. - The sage?
- I love sage.
- Biggest ones I stacked up
into a nice, kind of, like, handsome, little pile.
And I'm just gonna cut 'em in half
just 'cause they're a little bit big.
We need to grate the cheese and have it at the ready.
What kind of grater do you have?
- I have this one, and I have this one.
- All right, so you have a box grater,
and you have what looks like a micro plane?
- Mm-hmm. - All right.
Put the box grater right on your board,
and we're gonna grate some parmesan cheese.
It's gonna be chunky and delicious.
- I love the way this feels. - You do, right?
I like the way it sounds.
- How's that?
- That is perfect.
So now let's use the other grater,
and that you're gonna use to zest the lemon.
[upbeat music]
And then you could take a knife
and just cut the lemon in half.
Throw the lemon zest right in a little bowl
and you can use a little strainer to squeeze
the lemon juice to catch any of the seeds.
You know, strain it-- a little strainer
so you don't get any seeds maybe?
Do you have something like that?
- I don't have seeds in these.
- In the lemon?
Is that a--okay.
You certainly know if you have seeds or not.
[orchestral music]
♪
Is that a lime?
- It's just really soft. - A soft, seedless lemon.
You have a fruit that I've never seen before, but
[chuckles] Okay.
We're gonna melt-- [laughs]
- Don't worry please. - I trust you 100%.
♪
So the next thing we're gonna do
is we're gonna make brown butter sauce.
- All right, how much butter?
- This is a butter sauce,
so we're not being shy here.
This is a 1/2 a stick of butter.
Right in the pan.
And then you're gonna melt that over a medium heat.
My butter is kind of being a little bit aggressive,
and it's splattering a little bit.
It's like Fourth of July in my pan.
- Is mine supposed to look like Fourth of July?
- No. - Okay.
- See how it's starting to brown
a beautiful, nutty golden brown?
- Yeah.
- So now throw your sage leaves right in there.
That's gorgeous. That's so perfect.
Take it off the fire, lemon in.
♪
Perfect.
Wow, dump your gnocchi right in there.
Gnocchi goes in.
Toss, toss, toss and coat our gnocchi
with this delicious, buttery, lemony sauce, right?
We can turn our oven off at this point
and pull the meatballs out. - Oh, yeah.
- Take a bunch of these meatballs
and just kind of plate them right on the platter.
Just kind of scatter them around,
and then let's take the gnocchi and the sauce,
and let's dump them right over the top.
♪
Cheese it up.
- Aw. - Get cheesy.
- Oh, my gosh.
- And then the black pepper right over the top of that.
Just like that.
Wowzerini.
I think we mangia, mangia, mangia,
you know what I'm saying?
- Let's do it.
Raquelle! - Yes?
- I think it's time to try. - Whoo!
Selena, wow.
[upbeat music]
It's gorgeous. - Thanks, babe.
- I am very impressed. - You did a great job.
- Thank you.
Shall we plate some?
♪
- Somebody, by the way, you can't see them
but I have caught you on camera
- No! - Snacking on the gnocchi.
She's got her fingers in the cookie jar.
- I just took a little side bite.
- Red-handed. - You caught me.
- I 100% caught you. - That's my Raquelle.
- Mmm.
This is the best meatball I've ever had in my whole life.
- Is it really? - Holy [bleep].
Insane.
- I'm very impressed with myself.
- Mm-hmm.
- You did an absolutely phenomenal job.
- Aw, thanks.
- I would rate this a 4.5. - Awesome.
- I would give myself a 5. 5 out of 5.
- I did not think I could make, like, bomb-ass meatballs.
- I've eaten, like, seven. - They're so good.
I would love for people to know
about the charity that we will be donating $10,000 to.
- No Kid Hungry is a charity organization
that feeds children for free.
Every single penny that gets donated
goes directly into the mouths of hungry children.
- Well, I'm very honored
that we will get to do that donation.
- Thank you so much for that. That is a huge, huge home run.
- And thank you for teaching us how to cook something
that I know will be a staple at my new house.
- Bye, guys. - Thank you so much, bye.
[upbeat music]
- Okay.
All right.
Hey, guys, it's Selena.
People who know me know that I love to cook.
Except I have no idea what to do or how to do it.
Okay, I'm miked. Got my tea.
So I've asked some of the best chefs
to school me.
They're at home. I'm at home.
And we're gonna make a meal together apart.
Let's do it.
I'm trying, I'm trying ♪
Oh, trying, I'm trying, I'm trying ♪
My feelings on fire ♪
- [laughs] Hi, Daniel.
- Hi--how exciting is this?
- This is very different, right?
- It's like you came over,
except my kitchen got nicer.
- [laughs]
Today I'm working with chef Daniel "Halzman."
[bleep] Holzman, I apologize.
Today I'm working with chef Daniel Holzman.
He's a chef, restaurant owner.
He's an entrepreneur,
and he's also an experienced cooking teacher,
which is good because I need schooling.
Well, I am very, very honored
that you have let us into your kitchen.
What are we making?
- Ten years ago, I started a restaurant
called The Meatball Shop in New York City.
We make 60 different types of meatballs,
so we're making mini chicken meatballs.
- Oh, awesome. - With fresh gnocchi.
- Yum.
- Your friends are gonna be so proud of you
because this is probably gonna be
one of the more challenging recipes
that you've cooked so far.
It is a little bit intimidating.
- Oh, no.
- So there have been some bets placed
on whether we pull this one off, so--
but I guarantee-- [laughs]
- All right, I'll take my own bet then.
I bet you I do it.
- This is like you're onstage
somewhere where, like, your fans aren't sure
if they love you yet, and you're gonna win them over.
This is gonna be a big--
this is the biggest moment of your life.
You're gonna look back and be like,
"I could have failed, but I just crushed it.
- Okay, I accept the challenge.
- Should I come say hi? - Oh, yeah.
Sorry, this is my best friend Raquelle.
- Hello.
- I'm Raquelle, hi.
- You're about to be the recipient of, like,
one of the most delicious meals
you've ever had in your whole life.
- Okay, well, I'm gonna be on the couch till then.
- Okay, okay.
What do I need to do? Let's go.
- The first thing that we're gonna do is prep everything.
I wanna get all of my ingredients and make sure
they're within a hand's reach so I'm not like,
"Oh, my God, I need the olive oil.
The meatballs are burning" and running to the fridge.
So let's just gather all of our ingredients.
You need ground chicken. - All right.
- Where do I have my stuff?
Eggs, parsley, olive oil, and bread crumbs.
- Getting the hang of this.
- I will say that you're wearing a very white outfit.
Wearing all white when you're about to embark on a recipe--
you see what I've got going?
You gotta cover up, because you are gonna be
splattered, and that's gonna be a whole situation.
- It's, like, not my style.
- Everyone will be like,
"You're the guy that ruined Selena Gomez's tank top."
- This tank top was, like, $5.
Okay, how's this?
I feel like I look-- - Cute!
It's so cute. I love it.
- I find that when I tie my apron a little bit lower,
it makes me look a little slimmer.
It's like a chef Spanx.
- [laughs] You're so funny.
- All right, so why don't we go ahead and just get
chopping the parsley out of the way.
- Okay.
- So I take the whole bunch,
give it a little roll like this,
and just kind of chop the leaves like that.
- Okay.
- Meatballs, they're a peasant food.
The whole idea was
we don't have a lot of money,
we take a little bit of meat,
and we make it go a long way
by mixing in lots of ingredients.
- All right, how's that?
- I think that looks absolutely perfect.
Do you have a bowl with the chicken ready?
- How is this size? - That looks great.
The number one mistake that home cooks make
is not putting stuff in big enough bowls
to be able to mix freely,
and then it feels claustrophobic.
- I totally forgot the chicken. Okay.
- Before you get your hands dirty,
we might as well just preheat our oven
to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Convection?
- You know, you have a fancier oven than me.
Um, yeah, let's go convection. - I love convection.
Okay.
- The parsley can go right in the big bowl.
So we've got our chopped parsley.
Now when you make meatballs, there's a magic ratio.
For every pound of meat, if you put a teaspoon of salt,
1/4 cup of bread crumbs, and 1 egg in,
you get a perfect meatball. - Yep.
I love that.
- So chicken in the bowl with the parsley.
- All of it? - Is that 2 pounds or so?
- Yeah. - How hungry are you?
- Very. - Okay, all the chicken.
- Okay.
- Two eggs are gonna go cracked right on top.
So no shell.
- Whoops, oops, oops. - Crack 'em on a flat surface.
You're less likely to get shell in the meatballs.
I always figure, if you get a little shell in there,
it's a meatball, there's a lot of texture anyway,
and, like, who's gonna notice? - [laughs]
- 2 teaspoons of salt,
a quarter cup of dry white wine.
Dry in wine, if you don't know this already,
is the opposite of sweet.
- I don't know how to open wine.
- Do you have a wine opener?
Then it's gonna be really challenging.
Do you have a sledgehammer?
- Liz, is there a wine opener?
- I thought that, of all the challenging areas
of the recipe, I wasn't sure that this
was gonna be the hang-up.
- That? What the hell is that?
Push me up.
- I need to film you doing this, though, babe,
'cause this is great content. - This is ridiculous.
- You can do it.
[orchestral music]
- Why are you just filming me?
- 'Cause this is hilarious.
- Did you consider a career in climbing?
- Liz! Liz!
We need you to help. Come.
- I feel so inadequate right now.
Why is your wine opener so much radder than my wine opener?
- I don't know.
- This tiny thing is embarrassing.
- This is a gift, okay? I didn't know.
- Well, you have great, generous friends.
I'd love to talk you through how to use that thing,
but, you know, unless you have a manual--
- Oh, dear gracious--
[jaunty classical music]
Okay.
- So lift the handle up.
No, I think you gotta pick the wine up
and then squeeze it. - Oh, I do.
I squeeze it.
- You squeeze those handles over there,
and I think that holds it in place.
Then pick that lever all the way down.
That is the most ridiculous and awesome wine--
- [laughs]
This is gonna be great when people come over.
You're like, "Let me get the wine opener."
- Now what do I do?
- Now I think you keep squeezing it
and then reverse the handle.
- I'm scared I'm gonna drop it.
- Now grab the bottle, release the handle,
and voilà, as they say in French.
- No, it didn't work!
♪
[laughs]
And I was gonna be so impressed.
- Do that again, but don't release the handle
and just pull the bottle down, I guess?
That doesn't sound right.
- Come here, I need your help. - Coming.
Okay, what do you want me to do?
- Hold this so tight together.
♪
[laughter]
- This is definitely a multi-person operation.
♪
- Are you gonna hold it? - Don't elbow me.
♪
- It worked! - Whoo!
- Wow. - That's so extra.
- I would keep that prominently displayed.
I would never put that away again.
That's definitely--yeah, that's a prize possession.
- All right, now what? - Well, I have no idea
where we were-- I've completely lost track.
- We're white wine now.
- Yeah, quarter cup--and this one I would measure out
'cause you don't wanna put too much white wine
or they'll be too wet, and then you'll have
a hard time rolling them. - Okay.
Yum--ugh.
- So we have 1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds.
Do you have pre-ground
or do you have whole fennel seeds?
- These are ground. - Okay, great, that's perfect.
I'm gonna grind mine fresh.
I kind of like the fact that there's, like,
a little extra texture from, like, the little bits
of chopped up fennel. - Okay, good to know.
- Yeah, you know, a little tip, a little chef-y thing.
Like, if I was just on stage, you'd be like, "You know,
"if you moved your legs and hands simultaneously,
"you would look like you're dancing
instead of looking like a, you know, pterodactyl."
But, you know, you could, like, throw that tip my way.
- I always make sure I look like a pterodactyl onstage.
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper.
Chef chef-y chef chefs are all about the pepper grinder.
We're like a real fresh ground
type of people 'cause it makes us feel, you know
- Chef-y. - Like we're cooking.
Bread crumbs, 1/2 cup.
This is the fun part. We're gonna mix it.
There's a real misconception
that you're not supposed to overmix.
You can really get your aggression out.
- Oh, this feels so weird.
- Would you feel like,
if you were to roll those up right now,
they would turn into kind of like a nice, firm meatball,
or are they a little bit wet? - They're a little wet.
- Just sprinkle a little bit more bread crumb on there.
You don't want it to be dry,
but you definitely want it to hold together.
- I'm learning. - That looks really great.
So why don't we grab a sheet tray,
and we're gonna put a piece of parchment paper on there.
- Oh, we have to tell you a story about the paper.
We had a little issue last week.
Basically the paper got caught on fire in the oven.
- TMI--I was having a rough day as a female.
- Just having a rough day, so I just lit the place on fire.
I was like, "You know what?
"If I can't get out of here,
I'm gonna invite the fire department over."
- Seriously.
- I've got a great trick for you
that you're gonna be so excited about
with this parchment paper.
The problem with parchment paper
is 'cause it was in a roll, it tends to curl up.
My stuff is flat because I'm, like, a chef guy
so I got cool parchment paper,
but just cut the right size piece off.
You don't have to be perfect about it.
- I'm sorry, but I don't wanna burn.
It's gotta fit perfectly in this thing.
- I'm with you, so if you wet your hand
and just kind of, like, you know,
flick some water on the tray, then when you put
the parchment down, it, like, sticks to the tray
and won't fall off. - Love it.
- Ye-ah.
You feel like a real chef. - Ooh!
That's awesome.
That is a trick I will be doing from now on.
- You know, ice cream scoop
is a great tool for making meatballs
because it makes it really, really easy.
We're gonna just drop it right on the board.
Yep.
- This is so fun.
- Your meatballs are looking really great.
I'm happy, 'cause if it was a disaster,
I would feel really embarrassed.
- I wanna know if you bet that I could or couldn't.
- I would never ever doubt you.
I don't imagine you became, like, super world superstar
by not being hardworking and intelligent.
- Thank you. I try.
- You know, you're doing great.
Have I said that enough?
- You know, I could hear it more.
I'm just kidding.
[upbeat music]
- The first, like, month of quarantine,
I was, like, full-blown steak eater
all day long, and then I knew it got to a bad point
when my sister-in-law bought me a scale as a gift.
- Oh, my God.
- I was like, "Whoa, that is so on the nose."
Like, that is not even a hint.
She was just like, "I bought you
this amazing scale. It tells your calories."
- Shows how much weight you've gained.
- Chicken in the oven. - Okay.
- And we're gonna check on these
after about 12 or 14 minutes.
- Should I look?
- I think we should look together.
I'ma check mine out.
Pull them out. - Are you sure?
- Yeah, those are gorgeous. - They look yummy.
- Someone told me that you didn't know how to cook.
You're ahead of the game.
- [snaps] That's right.
- So let's just get the gnocchi going.
I'm glad that we're doing the gnocchi second
because I wanna remind you that this is
the really, really hard part that, you know,
you should build your confidence up for
and be super nervous. - Okay.
- You're like, "Okay, no problem, got this."
The potatoes are gonna take about 15 minutes.
Why don't we get those in the microwave.
The recipe calls for about 2 pounds,
so just throw 'em on the scale,
and let's see what it looks like.
- All right, 2 pounds, 9 ounces.
- Perfect. We're going to
poke the potatoes
like one, two, three, four.
Stab 'em like they're an ex-boyfriend.
Just get in there and feel real aggressive and angry.
Get your aggression out to poke 'em in,
and, you know, don't stab your finger.
Don't do that.
[orchestral music]
You did a great job with that.
- It definitely helps when you give me inspiration.
It's working.
- You're just not an angry person.
You're, like, a happy, nice person.
- I do like to think I'm a nice girl,
so bad things shouldn't happen to me.
♪
- Okay.
[music intensifies]
- Selena!
♪
- Eventually stop stabbing the potato.
- [sighs]
[dramatic end chords] Kay.
- You're gonna break the fork.
- It's all good.
- Throw 'em in the bowl, and then we're gonna
put 'em in the microwave. - Okay.
- You can bake the potatoes, but it takes, you know,
like, an hour to bake a potato.
So the potatoes are gonna come out of the microwave.
They're gonna be piping hot.
We're going to peel them, so rubber gloves
will help you not to burn yourself,
so get a pair of rubber gloves.
- Okeydokey.
- While we're waiting, I like spinning the sheet pan.
- Wow.
- It's a kitchen trick that I feel like
you could definitely work on.
Perhaps you have a sheet pan that you'd like to work with?
- Oh, [bleep]. Okay, ugh.
♪
[screams]
- Oh, my gosh. - Try it--come here.
Mine was pretty long. - No!
- You know, this is actually a lot easier
if you do something smaller like a porcelain plate.
- No, we're gonna break the plate.
- Why on Earth would I use porcelain?
[screams]
- You did a really amazing job.
- Everybody laugh at me now, okay?
- [laughs]
- So listen, this thing is a potato ricer.
Do you know about these things already?
- I've never used this before.
- This thing is really cool, and it's great
for ricing the potatoes - Ooh.
and it fits in a medium-sized bowl.
Once we make these gnocchi, we're gonna cook them
in a big pot of boiling water,
so we might as well get our water started.
The trick to cooking pasta is cooking it in lots of water.
♪
You know, the reason you wanna use lots of boiling water
is that when you put the pasta in the water,
you don't want the water to cool down
because then it'll get, like, gummy and chewy.
- Oh. - Uh-oh.
Yeah, definitely, 100%--
definitely don't wanna boil the dry pot.
- Like fill it up maybe to the little knob?
- Yep, yep, yep.
We're gonna cook the pasta in the pot,
but then we're gonna finish it in the pan with the sauce
so it, like, soaks up the sauce
and cooks all the way through. That's the trick.
- Like it, all right.
- Talk to me--potatoes. Are they ready?
It could be a really hot bowl, so be super careful.
- I think these are done.
- Let's pull them out. - Okeydokey.
- When you put out a music video
that's like, "I need a boyfriend,"
do you get, like, a million people
that are like, "I'll be your boyfriend."
- To be honest, the guys that are bold enough to hit on me
are not my type, and the guys that
I would love for them to hit on me
would not set foot near a pop star.
I think the idea of me is too much for people
who I actually am attracted to.
- I get that all the time.
I'm like, "I understand how you would be intimidated
to hit on me," but, like, they don't actually ask me
for my number ever because they're just too nervous.
Our potatoes are ready,
so you're gonna cut your potatoes in half.
You can just take it in your hand,
and you can give it a squeeze.
You'll notice the potato will just fall out of the skin.
- It's so hot. It is hot as hell.
- Don't tempt the devil, girl. It is not that hot.
- I wake up and look in the mirror,
and I say, "Not today, Satan."
- That could be another hit, you know?
- Not today, Satan, not today ♪
- This is the fun part.
As you turn it, you're gonna push down,
and you're gonna see that it's pushing the potatoes
through the little holes.
- This is really hard. - I get it.
- I tried-- this will be sturdier.
- Need some help? - Yes.
My sous chef. - Now sous chef is here.
This is fun!
- You're going the wrong way, yeah.
- Oh, a little tougher. - Less fun.
- Okay, let me try to do this again.
I feel like I got one good one left.
- You're like, "I'm gonna get every bit
of this potato through--100%."
- Oh, it looks so good. - Yes.
- Whoo! - So moving on.
I've got one egg out.
- So one egg.
- Yeah, one egg we're gonna need.
So we're gonna dust our cutting board
with a little bit of flour.
So you dusted it with flour. - Liz!
- I don't know where Liz went. - Liz!
- Taste it--is it sugar?
- Is this flour? - We need you.
- Because I think Nana stole my flour.
- It's a flour situation.
- Never mind. - Oh, we're good?
- Here, I don't know what that is.
Maybe put that away.
- [laughs] Coffee creamer.
- That would have been terrible, but very funny.
I would've made fun of you a lot,
but it would've been really terrible.
- Yeah. - Okay.
So now the potatoes that you just riced,
we can dump them right onto the floured cutting board.
You got the bench scraper? - Just got one.
- You're gonna make a little well
with your fingers. - Okay.
- And you can dump your egg
right in there.
Take, like, 1/2 a cup of your flour.
Just, like, sprinkle it over the top.
Use your bench scraper-- so we're just gonna kind of,
like, cut it so that we're mixing the egg in,
and we're gonna use our hands just to gently kind of
knead it together, and then let's add in
a teaspoon and 1/2 of salt you can season it with.
And then once it's all kind of come together,
use both hands, and you're gonna knead it
enough that it comes together into a wet dough.
Wow, you're doing a great, great job.
- Thank you.
- You're gonna take your bench scraper,
and you're gonna cut off
a little piece of the dough like that.
Just really gently with our fingers,
we're gonna roll it until it's like a penny-thick log.
You're gonna take some flour, and just make it snow
right over the whole log.
Really gently just cut straight through
at a diagonal, and you can make little pillows.
- Oh, this is fun.
- Those are really, really perfect.
You're doing a great job.
- Diamonds on my wrist, so they call me ice cream ♪
You can double dip 'cause I know you like me ♪
I know that my heart can be so cold ♪
But I'm sweet for you, come put me in a cone ♪
- Whoo! Did I do a good job?
- Those look as close to perfect
as anybody who I have ever seen--
first time gnocchi maker make.
- Thanks. - Why don't you toss
the meatballs in the oven to get those warmed up.
And now we're gonna salt our water
about a 1/4--oh, my God.
I just dumped salt all over the place.
- No. - Ugh.
My professionalism out the window.
Here I am all cool, calm, collected, and confident,
but inside I am shaking
like a teenager at a Selena Gomez concert.
- [laughs] - God.
- So cut off, like, a tablespoon of butter.
- Okay.
- And just put the butter in the pan,
and then throw a little
olive oil in there as well.
Let's take the gnocchi on this guy here,
and, gently, we're gonna just slide them
into the water.
- I love potatoes.
- Everybody loves potatoes. Potatoes are so delicious.
And you see how your gnocchi are starting to float?
That's kind of like how you know that they're done,
so let's gently scoop out those floating gnocchi.
- And then put it in the pan? - Drop them in the pan.
And I hear from the sizzle that you're doing a great job.
- Thank you. That's really pretty.
- With a spatula, just gently scrape under them.
Make sure that they're not sticking.
Kind of, like, just turning every single one over
to kind of make it nice and browned on the other side.
- Okay, I think I should take mine out.
- Awesome. - Good grief.
Ugh, some of these are burnt. - You know what?
Honestly, a little crispy and a little burnt
is actually gonna be delicious.
You don't have to worry. - I don't know.
Like, that one seems burnt.
- Mmm.
- That's what I'm talking about.
Did you just hear what she just said?
She gave you such a big "mmm." - Yum!
- Can you not eat all of it though?
- Mmm, mmm! I'm gonna be over here.
- The next step is we're gonna finish our dish.
We're gonna need the parmesan cheese.
You have your brown pepper at the ready?
- Yes, I do. - You have your lemon?
- Yep. - The sage?
- I love sage.
- Biggest ones I stacked up
into a nice, kind of, like, handsome, little pile.
And I'm just gonna cut 'em in half
just 'cause they're a little bit big.
We need to grate the cheese and have it at the ready.
What kind of grater do you have?
- I have this one, and I have this one.
- All right, so you have a box grater,
and you have what looks like a micro plane?
- Mm-hmm. - All right.
Put the box grater right on your board,
and we're gonna grate some parmesan cheese.
It's gonna be chunky and delicious.
- I love the way this feels. - You do, right?
I like the way it sounds.
- How's that?
- That is perfect.
So now let's use the other grater,
and that you're gonna use to zest the lemon.
[upbeat music]
And then you could take a knife
and just cut the lemon in half.
Throw the lemon zest right in a little bowl
and you can use a little strainer to squeeze
the lemon juice to catch any of the seeds.
You know, strain it-- a little strainer
so you don't get any seeds maybe?
Do you have something like that?
- I don't have seeds in these.
- In the lemon?
Is that a--okay.
You certainly know if you have seeds or not.
[orchestral music]
♪
Is that a lime?
- It's just really soft. - A soft, seedless lemon.
You have a fruit that I've never seen before, but
[chuckles] Okay.
We're gonna melt-- [laughs]
- Don't worry please. - I trust you 100%.
♪
So the next thing we're gonna do
is we're gonna make brown butter sauce.
- All right, how much butter?
- This is a butter sauce,
so we're not being shy here.
This is a 1/2 a stick of butter.
Right in the pan.
And then you're gonna melt that over a medium heat.
My butter is kind of being a little bit aggressive,
and it's splattering a little bit.
It's like Fourth of July in my pan.
- Is mine supposed to look like Fourth of July?
- No. - Okay.
- See how it's starting to brown
a beautiful, nutty golden brown?
- Yeah.
- So now throw your sage leaves right in there.
That's gorgeous. That's so perfect.
Take it off the fire, lemon in.
♪
Perfect.
Wow, dump your gnocchi right in there.
Gnocchi goes in.
Toss, toss, toss and coat our gnocchi
with this delicious, buttery, lemony sauce, right?
We can turn our oven off at this point
and pull the meatballs out. - Oh, yeah.
- Take a bunch of these meatballs
and just kind of plate them right on the platter.
Just kind of scatter them around,
and then let's take the gnocchi and the sauce,
and let's dump them right over the top.
♪
Cheese it up.
- Aw. - Get cheesy.
- Oh, my gosh.
- And then the black pepper right over the top of that.
Just like that.
Wowzerini.
I think we mangia, mangia, mangia,
you know what I'm saying?
- Let's do it.
Raquelle! - Yes?
- I think it's time to try. - Whoo!
Selena, wow.
[upbeat music]
It's gorgeous. - Thanks, babe.
- I am very impressed. - You did a great job.
- Thank you.
Shall we plate some?
♪
- Somebody, by the way, you can't see them
but I have caught you on camera
- No! - Snacking on the gnocchi.
She's got her fingers in the cookie jar.
- I just took a little side bite.
- Red-handed. - You caught me.
- I 100% caught you. - That's my Raquelle.
- Mmm.
This is the best meatball I've ever had in my whole life.
- Is it really? - Holy [bleep].
Insane.
- I'm very impressed with myself.
- Mm-hmm.
- You did an absolutely phenomenal job.
- Aw, thanks.
- I would rate this a 4.5. - Awesome.
- I would give myself a 5. 5 out of 5.
- I did not think I could make, like, bomb-ass meatballs.
- I've eaten, like, seven. - They're so good.
I would love for people to know
about the charity that we will be donating $10,000 to.
- No Kid Hungry is a charity organization
that feeds children for free.
Every single penny that gets donated
goes directly into the mouths of hungry children.
- Well, I'm very honored
that we will get to do that donation.
- Thank you so much for that. That is a huge, huge home run.
- And thank you for teaching us how to cook something
that I know will be a staple at my new house.
- Bye, guys. - Thank you so much, bye.