[upbeat music]
- Summer should be filled
with family, friends, and food.
- I feel like we're on "The Queen's Gambit."
- Mm-hmm. - Chess is a little more--
- Complicated? [laughter]
But while I'm relaxing and soaking up the sunshine,
I've also been learning all I can about cooking
from the world's best chefs...
Cute.
Because as we know...
- I think this is a record amount of bags.
- You can cook a great meal together even if you're apart.
- Oh, my gosh, what are we making?
Guys, what's going on? - Cookies?
- I'm just confused at, like, onions, ketchup, cookies.
- What the heck? - I'm overwhelmed.
I need a fan. Whoa. - [chuckles] This is a lot.
Selena plus Paola, take one.
Let's do it.
♪ Oh, I'm tryin', I'm tryin' ♪ Okay!
♪ I'm tryin' I'm tryin', I'm tryin' ♪
♪ Oh, tryin', I'm tryin' ♪
♪ I'm tryin' with my feelings on fire ♪
Hi, Paola!
- Ooh! Hello. [laughter]
- Today, I'm learning from pastry chef Paola Velez.
She's a James Beard nominee,
one of "Food & Wine's" best new chefs of 2021,
and an activist who uses her skills in the kitchen
to fight racism and create social change.
This is my best friend, Ashley and Raquelle.
both: Hi! - Hi, Ashley! Hi, Raquelle!
Everybody has such lovely colors on.
It's just a beautiful sight to see.
- [laughs] - Thank you so much.
- Actually, your look is poppin'.
- As I looked at myself,
I realized that I look like a fried egg.
- [laughs] No! No, you don't.
You look beautiful. - You look amazing.
- Okay, today I'm gonna show you
how to make an indulgent, sweet,
and savory snackable menu. - Awesome.
- A chocolate sandwich cookie icebox cake.
And it's gonna have dulce de leche,
fresh berries, and that delicious cream.
Then, we're also gonna make beef empanadas,
my abuela's favorite.
- Yum.
- I sent you a bunch of cookies.
Maybe try a bite of each, and then
you can figure out which one you wanna use.
- That makes so much sense. We were like--
- How on Earth are we going to cook with this many cookies?
- Unless if you wanna make a mega, like, icebox cake.
- That would be funny if we did, like...
- I don't even know if there's a pan big enough for that,
but next time.
both: Okay. - Next time.
- Where are you from?
- I'm from the Bronx.
I thought my accent told on me,
but never mind. - No, I love it.
Okay, so here's lemon.
Mmm. Okay, that's good.
- Birthday cake. - Golden, very good.
- Oh, double-stuffed.
I think that's the one. both: I think double-stuffed.
- Yeah. - Beautiful.
- You gotta live la vida loca, right? So...
- Oh, right. - Of course.
- Okay, so first, you're gonna need
to grab your nine-inch springform pan.
You're gonna need some plastic wrap too.
Oh, I'm not supposed to show this.
Just kidding. Oh, yeah?
Never mind. I am supposed to show it.
- Okay.
Plastic food wrap. - Whoo-hoo.
- Grab the plastic wrap.
Put one layer on the counter. - Okay.
- Repeat the process, almost like a cross formation.
Get every little nook and cranny.
So I did it lengthwise.
No, widthwise, lengthwise,
and then diagonal, diagonal.
- I love those moves you got. - You know,
you gotta sometimes sneak in the workout
whenever you can, you know?
- Hey. - Cheers to that.
- And you're gonna grab some vegetable oil.
- There she comes with the vegetable oil.
- So I have--
- Oh, I'm sorry. Pan spray?
Is that what it's called? - Yeah.
- You know, sometimes in the Bronx,
we call everything-- no, I'm just kidding.
I don't know why I said that.
Anyway, so we're gonna go in
and we're just gonna spray it, but very lightly.
And that's the adhesive to your plastic wrap.
- She didn't even notice.
- Oh! - Oh.
- What the heck was that, Selena?
- Good morning.
- [coughs] My gosh. - Okay.
- All right, so now, you're gonna pick up
your plastic wrap. - Ooh.
- And now, we're just gonna put it in the center.
Lightly tuck it in.
Grab the thing-bob. What's it called again? That.
- Cooking spray. - You know, that thingamajig.
- Thing-bob. I like that. - Yep.
- And then, we're just gonna spray it
so that it doesn't stick when we unmold it later.
- Got it. - You need to grab
your tiny immersion blender.
Sorry, I'm back.
I actually--huh?
- Oh, your food processor.
Apparently, I don't know where I am today,
so please excuse me.
- You actually are acting like me.
[laughter]
Is that this thing? - Yes.
- Yeah? - And we need the bottom.
- So we're actually doing this to make cookie crumb,
so we're gonna, like, remove the filling, actually.
- Okay. - You can do, like, 20.
- Okay.
There's a trick you could do
with these kind of cookies.
- Okay, tell me the trick.
- People like to dump it in milk.
- Okay. - So you do this.
- Oh! - [laughs]
- I've never seen anyone do that.
- Sel, that's hilarious.
- It's that tour life. - On the bus?
A little late-night snack? - A late-night snack.
- So all your cookie pieces can go into the food processor.
- Okay. - Let's make cookie pieces.
- Oh, it's turning on, but it's just not going.
No!
I mean, it's all locked in.
- No!
- Maybe we need to hold it down
for a few seconds to start.
- Oh, yeah. That's the trick?
- We're gonna need to, like, try to...
[quirky music]
Oh, it's on backwards.
- Oh!
- Oh, it can only go one way.
There it goes. - Okay.
- Yeah. Switch--
- Aah! [laughter]
- Okay, checkmate.
- Yes. - Got it.
- If you have an extra bowl laying around anywhere...
- Yep. - Pour whatever you just made
into the bowl for safety purposes.
- Okay-- [clattering]
[weakly] Yay.
- That looks great. Yum.
- So now comes the fun part.
Oh, wait.
I have to make the whipped cream.
Grab your powdered sugar... - Okay.
- And quart of heavy cream. - Catch.
- Ooh! - And then,
you're gonna need your mixer.
You're also gonna need some salt and vanilla bean paste.
- Interesting. I've never had that.
- It kinda gives it, like, this nice, little,
like, freckled look. - Yeah.
- Not that you can see it with all the cookie pieces,
but I know it's there, you know?
- That's awesome. - So you're gonna grab
your cream, and you're gonna put it
into your mixer.
- The whole thing? - Yeah.
So first, let's do the salt.
All right, we're gonna need a half of a teaspoon.
- Okay.
- A teaspoon of the vanilla bean paste.
- Okay.
- And then a cup of powdered sugar.
And then, start your mixer on one.
[whirring]
- There it goes.
The little things make me happy.
- Kick it to two.
- Pick it up.
I just wanna thank you for letting me use the mixer.
A few people have tried to get me
to make whipped cream with my hands.
- Why? It's too hard.
- It's not a vibe for me.
- Nah, use the mixer.
If technology exists, use it.
You know? - Yeah.
- As that's mixing,
we're gonna layer some cookies
onto our pan. - Oh.
I like where we're going with this.
- This is looking great.
- Grab your cookie crumb
and just fill it into the empty space.
- This is, like, so good already.
- It looks really good.
So one of our friends, Kelsey, it's her birthday...
- Oh. - So we were thinking
about doing this, actually. - Yeah.
- I feel like it's, like, summer indulgence.
- I'm already excited.
- And now, we kinda have to babysit the mixer
because if we let it go past, it'll turn into butter.
- So if we're ever short on butter and we have cream,
we can make our own butter?
- Yeah. Literally.
- I would love to see you do that, Raquelle.
[laughter]
- As soon as you see it get, like, chunky, you could stop.
- It looks like clouds. - You did it.
- Yay. - Give me a little taste.
- So now, what you're gonna do is grab a pastry bag.
[orchestral music]
- Now fill it.
We're definitely gonna be making this again,
you guys. - Oh, yeah.
- And then, you're just gonna go around the perimeter
until you need the next layer. - Okay.
- And now, we're gonna smooth it out.
And then, just repeat the process.
- This is wonderful.
Wow, layers. - I know.
♪ ♪
- If you don't actually wanna use the piping bag...
- I don't. [laughter]
- Make, like, different blobs around the cake
so that it's easier for you to spread around.
- Thanks.
♪ ♪
- So I wanted to teach you this cake
because I think that, for the summer months,
it gets too hot to turn on an oven.
And it's a party favorite.
You just unmold it,
and then people are like, "Oh, my God.
This must have taken you forever."
No, but I always say, "Yeah, it did," you know?
- "Yeah, it actually did. "Thank you.
- Delicious.
- Do I add another layer? - Yeah.
So when we flip it over,
that layer is gonna be your cake bottom.
- Oh, yeah. - This looks so good.
How long have you been cooking for?
- I think this is year 17.
- Nice. - Wow.
- My family owned Tex-Mex restaurants in New York,
so I grew up around it.
- How did you get into baking?
- I met my husband, and I was like,
"Oh my God, I need to go on dates with him."
But I was a line cook, so I was like,
"I can't go outside in normal human hours."
So I was like, "Oh, I wanna work in pastry
'cause they work mornings."
- And here you are. - That's a really--
- That's a sweet story.
I don't know if there's a guy I like that much.
[laughter]
- Booyah! - Voilà!
- I don't know about you,
but I'm feeling 22. - Beautiful.
Okay. And that's it, really.
Ta-da! Yay!
- I think we're almost done too.
- I need to--well, I'm gonna come around.
It's beautiful! Yes. [laughter]
- Thanks, Mom! - Like it's a little baby.
- Okay, we can put it in the fridge now,
and now, we can focus on the empanadas.
- Amazing. - Ooh, yum!
I'm getting' hungry for something salty.
I never made an empanada.
Have you? - No.
- I would say, like,
if you have any cookie crumbs,
they kind of, like, impact your dough.
I mean, unless if you want chocolate empanadas.
- No, I think we're good.
♪ We got somethin' ♪
♪ In this room ♪ Thank you, Raquelle.
♪ Can't make that up ♪
Voilà!
- Is voilà the new okey dokey? - It might be.
♪ But you look like fun ♪
- Okay, grab your onion,
ground beef, garlic.
And then, you're gonna need a skillet.
- Skillet.
- And then a Dutch oven. - Got it.
- Oh, it's so cute. Look at that.
So cute. - Thank you.
- We're gonna start our oil now.
You can do, like, five cups of oil.
- Okay.
- And do you have one of these oil
or a candy thermometer? - Sure do.
- So you're gonna hook that up on the back.
And we want it to be at 350 at all times.
- Put it on high heat, medium?
- Medium. - Got it.
- So now, we're gonna cut onion.
- Okay. - I've seen you cut onions,
so I don't wanna, like, baby you, you know?
- I'm all right. I'm not the greatest, but...
- I'm a pastry chef, so maybe me too, right?
- Well, that makes me feel better.
- Oh, onion. Aah! Aah!
- Oh! Don't cry! - Oh, no!
- Oh, no.
- So I chop it in half, right?
- Yeah. I'm kinda--aah!
- She's getting emotional over there.
- Oh, no. - Whew!
- How are your eyes doing? - Not well.
- She's in the fridge. - she's in the freezer.
- Tears of joy. - Oh, here it comes.
- You're crying now too? - Yep.
- I'm just so happy. - [exhales sharply]
- Oh, you're sobbing! - I'm not sobbing.
- This is trying to get me to, like...
[laughter]
- Whew! - This is hilarious.
- See, this is why I deal with butter, flour, sugar.
- Whew!
- Do you want me to finish? - Yes, please.
- I think you're fine just like that.
If you wanna put it in, in the thing-bob.
- On the plate? - Oh, Ashley's a great chopper.
- This is torture.
- Holy moly.
Holy moly! - [chuckles]
- Okay, so we're gonna grab some garlic.
Do four.
- Okay. And then, yes, we smash and cut.
I'm, like, still crying. It's not okay.
- She's still crying.
[laughter]
- Okay, so we're gonna heat some oil on our skillet.
And you could put that on, like, medium-high heat.
- Okay. So can I put this in?
- Yeah. - Okay.
Wow, onions. Beautiful, Ash.
- [chuckles] - Thanks.
- Truly. - I'm so proud.
- Oh, I lost a onion.
I'm pretty sure I'm gonna slip on that one later, so...
Keep it going until, like,
right before it gets really soft.
But it should smell really, like, amazing,
almost like your abuela's house, you know?
Your grandma's house. - Yeah.
- So we're gonna remove the onion-garlic mixture
'cause we're gonna cook our meat now.
- Okay. - And we're gonna grab
some of our fresh cilantro.
Unlike baking, this is more cooking, like, with intuition,
so, I grabbed, like, a little handful.
- And then I put it where? - We're gonna lightly
chop it up just so that we can incorporate it into our beef.
- I get so scared when it gets too close.
- So we're gonna do a little bit of dried oregano,
and you're gonna sprinkle
until your heart says stop. - Okay.
- You can put your meat in the bowl,
put the cilantro in the bowl,
and just a little pinch of salt.
- Okay, a little salt.
- So, for me, empanadas are like home.
My husband's grandma, she was 101
before she passed this year. all: Wow.
- She would make empanadas during the holidays.
And my grandparents passed when I was really young,
but I was able to, like, be there with them
in Dominican Republic.
And again, I knew Mama Paulina
was gonna be cooking some delicious empanadas
and something that we call el fogon,
which is actually, like, wood fire.
So, we have, like, this little outhouse
in the Dominican Republic that we cook with wood fire.
- No way. - And it's really fun.
When you eat this, like, I feel that you're gonna feel
how I felt eating this, you know?
- Okay. I'm excited.
- Can you add adobo?
- How much adobo?
- A generous sprinkle.
[quirky music]
Oh, that's too much.
- That was very generous.
- [coughing]
- Oh, my God! Coughing all over the meat.
She goes--[imitates coughing] - I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
- And then black pepper, if you have it.
Be a little more generous with it.
- Very generous. She's like... - Very generous today.
- It's okay, guys.
- So we're gonna just grab the meat,
and we're gonna put it in our sauté pan.
- Okay.
Oh, it smells so good.
- So just keep it until it starts getting nice
and, like, crunchy almost.
But keep it in motion, you know what I mean?
- Okay. - Oh.
That's looking great, Sel. - Thank you.
- Okay, so actually, we're done cooking for now,
so if you wanna grab your ground beef
and put it in a bowl.
Oh, my wrist hurt. Aah!
- [chuckles] Beautiful.
- So remember our onion and garlic mixture?
We're gonna put it in the bowl too.
- Okay.
- And we're gonna do
two tablespoons of tomato paste.
Something was very satisfying about that.
It just, like, fit perfectly.
- And now I mix it all together?
- Yeah, until everything kind of coats.
- Okay--I was about to say it, and then I caught myself.
- You're gonna say okey dokey? Aah!
- This smells so good, I could eat it by itself.
- I guess we should try it. - Yeah.
I was waiting for you to ask.
- [chuckles]
All right. - Oh, yeah.
A lot of flavor.
- Mmm! - It's really good.
- I think I have to add more adobo to mine.
- Oh, my God, it's so good. - Oh.
- Ooh, that's so good! - We gotta save some.
We gotta save some. - It's so good.
- So good. - So now,
we're just gonna make our dough.
- Ugh, this is my least favorite thing to do.
- Oh, no. - Okay.
- All right, guys. See you later.
- No, no, no, this is the whole point of the show.
I need to learn how to cook.
- I'm just kidding. I'm back.
Okay, so now you're gonna grab two cups of flour.
I already kind of premeasured it because I'm crazy.
Sorry. - Oh, I love that.
- A pinch of salt. - A pinch of salt.
- A splash of oil.
And then, one teaspoon of baking powder.
- Isn't that crazy how one, little ingredient--
- I always think that the smallest amount
make the biggest difference. - It's crazy.
- And then, 3/4 of a cup of water.
But don't add it all in at the same time.
And similar to pasta, we're just gonna get in there.
Sorry, nails. - Oh, they good.
- And we do this because, depending on where you are,
the humidity can affect
how much water you're putting into this.
- What the heck is that?
It's looking like string cheese.
- What do you think we need over here?
- Oh, like, a little dusting of flour.
You wanna take it out of the bowl and, like,
put it on the cutting board.
- Should we put some flour down?
- A little bit, yeah.
[mischievous music]
- She's sneaking food again. - No, I'm--
- Raquelle. - It was, like--
[laughter]
It was the tiniest bite. - Raquelle.
- Our empanadas are disappearing.
- There's literally none.
- There's so much left. - [laughs]
She's hiding it. - No!
Are you serious? - I'm dead serious.
We want to eat together.
- I'm sorry.
- And now, what we're gonna do
is we're gonna grab a little golf ball size,
and we're gonna pinch it,
and that should be our dough size.
- Okay.
- We're going to flatten it out
as if we were making, like, tortilla.
Dust it off a little with flour so it doesn't stick.
And then, you need a rolling pin.
- Found it. - Thanks. Okay.
- When you roll it out, do once up,
and then flip your dough like this.
Yeah. And then, do it again.
- I did it. Okay. - You did it.
So I'm just gonna put my dough on here once it's done.
Do you like this process, or do you hate it?
- Yeah, I just am not good at it,
so baking is not my thing.
- But I feel like you are good at it.
Look how you're rolling everything.
You made the dough.
- Thank you so much. I appreciate it.
- No, I'm really serious. - Thank you so much.
Look, you gotta keep doing something
to get better at it, so... - That's all it is.
Practice makes perfect. - Yep.
- By the time that I realize it,
I'm gonna watch the show again
and you're gonna be making all the cakes,
all the empanadas, all the brownies, cookies,
and I'm gonna be like, dang, hire me
when you open up your bakery.
You know what I'm saying? - Yeah.
- This is gonna be really good.
- I think we're gonna close our empanadas
with a little bit of egg wash.
So we're gonna grab an egg.
Aah!
I almost dropped it. [chuckles]
- Whoa, I almost dropped mine too.
- [chuckles]
- Here.
- [gasps] - No!
- And then, you're gonna do, like, a little splash of water.
Just a little bit.
- She would have done that. - Yeah.
- Okay.
- And if you have, like, a little pastry brush,
that'll be great. - I think I do.
- Once you're done mixing your egg,
you're gonna grab a little disc of dough.
And then, you're gonna grab
a spoonful of your filling.
Not all the way center,
because if your filling touches the edge of your disc,
it'll fall out.
And we're gonna brush one side
of our dough.
Close it onto itself.
And then, we're gonna take a fork,
and we're gonna, like, crimp it down.
And this is gonna make sure that it stays closed
while we're frying it. - Yeah.
- And we're just gonna repeat that process.
- Do you guys wanna help? both: Yeah.
- I think I'm gonna put a little extra meat in mine.
- Yeah?
- It kind of takes a little bit to do
'cause you're repeating everything
instead of doing everything all at once,
but that's, like, the tradition of it.
Everybody would come together and help make these, you know?
- Stop! Put it in the empanada.
- It's too good. People need to know.
- "People need to know."
- I love this meat. It's so good.
- Raquelle, you're not gonna even be able to close it.
- I'll be able to close it. It's fine.
It's fine. It's fine. - [sighs]
- Fry that one last.
- Whoa, those are some meaty empanadas!
- Plenty of meat over here.
- Selena's are perfect, honestly.
- The chef, Selena. [laughter]
- Okay.
- Check your oil
and see what temperature it's at.
- Okay, we are at 350. - All right.
So now, you can lower it gently,
making sure that you're always dropping away from you.
- Oh.
- She's nerv--I can tell you're nervous.
- I don't wanna mess this up.
- Beautiful. - I feel it.
- So I would leave it in there for, like, two minutes,
and then we're gonna flip.
And if you feel like you need to get more color,
you can keep flipping it, you know what I mean?
It's so interesting to be able to, like,
cook with you like this.
I'm impressed not because I didn't think you could,
but I'm, like, impressed
that you can do this over and over and over,
and, like, every single time, you do it so well, you know?
- You're so kind. I am very grateful.
I didn't expect that I'd be doing this
for as long as I have.
It's just been so much fun.
- I mean, it brings people joy, right?
- It does.
- We want to see something joyful.
You bring people pockets of joy,
and it's amazing.
- Thank you so much. - Aww.
- Well, you do the same thing
with all of your work that you do.
- Oh, thank you.
I mean, I try, but I'm really shy about it.
I just do it because it's the right thing to do.
- But on that note, do you mind telling us a little bit
about the organization we're donating to?
- Oh, yeah. Today, we're gonna be donating
to Ayuda D.C.
It's an organization that helps
the undocumented workforce
not only get access to legal help,
but just everyday life things, right?
During the pandemic, I did this donut pop-up called Doña Dona,
where I did Latin American donut flavors.
And we were able to fundraise for those that were impacted
by the pandemic, because... - Yeah.
- Our undocumented workforce in the culinary space
didn't have access to help, you know.
- Yeah. - So Ayuda D.C.,
they help so many families across the nation.
- I love that.
Well, I'm very happy we are doing that.
- Thank you. Those look really good.
- They look crispy.
- And they only start to get more crispier
as they cool down.
- Ooh.
- I can't wait to try y'all's.
- They look great.
- Oh, that felt really good.
[sighs] [laughter]
I live here now.
[laughter]
Okay, so now we're gonna decorate our icebox cake.
So we're gonna grab our berries.
- Cake's gonna be goo-oo-ood. - And our dulce de leche.
Do you want to grab the cake?
- Yes, I do wanna grab the cake because I wanna eat the cake.
- Do you have a cake stand or a plate?
- Got it.
- Peel back the parchment paper.
- Okay.
- And then you're gonna flip it over
onto your cake stand.
[upbeat music]
- Ooh.
- And then we're gonna unspring it.
Ta-da!
- Oh, gosh. I hope ours is that pretty.
- [gasps]
- What? Oh, my gosh. This is adorable.
- You told me you're not a baker but, mmm,
that's not what I see.
- [laughs]
I have help.
- So now what we're gonna do is,
we're gonna decorate.
I'm gonna grab some dulce de leche
and I'm just gonna, like, put it in the center here.
Dulce de leche is caramelized condensed milk,
and I just think that,
with this, it's gonna add such a luscious flavor.
Your technique with the offset is really good.
- Girl, you are my hype girl.
- I am. Go, Selena. Go, Selena.
Go, go, go. - Love it.
- Okay, so I put some berries in the middle,
but if you wanna put the berries
however you feel like it.
- Very professional.
This is some season four cake making.
- Hey. - I think it looks beautiful.
- Yeah, I love how it looks. It looks very pretty.
- Mm-hmm. I agree. Okay, let's cut into this.
Cut around the cookie, next to the cookie.
- Oh, you did it. - Ooh.
- Shall we? - We shall.
We're digging in. - Ta-da.
- Wow. - Whoa.
- Mm-hmm. - This is incredible.
- I'm gonna grab this funky-looking guy.
both: Mmm.
- They're just the best.
- Delicious.
- This is incredible.
- It's really fun. - Thank you so much...
- Thank you. - For all of this.
We are definitely gonna be cooking this again.
And we just appreciate your time.
And hopefully one day we'll get to cook again.
- Thank you for having me. Bye.
- Thank you. Bye. both: Bye.
- Ooh, let's eat. - Yum, yum, yum.
[upbeat tropical music]
- Kelsey, happy almost birthday to you.
- Oh, my gosh.
- Happy birthday. - Happy birthday, Kelsey.
- Thanks, guys.
Wow. - You like it?
- Y'all killed it.
- They helped, but... - Kelsey.
- I can't wait for you to try that cake.
- All this for you, babe. All this for you.
- Oh, my God. This is incredible.
Oh, my God. - So happy, right?
- I'm really happy. [laughs]
- So I brought some more meat.
- Oh, my gosh.
- This should be a compliment to you
because you made this so well.
Like, I might need you to make me some more tonight.
- Thank you, babe. - I've eaten so much meat.
- ♪ I mean, I could, but why would I want to? ♪
[Selena Gomez's "Hands to Myself"]
♪ Hands to myself ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Can't keep my hands to myself ♪
♪ ♪
Oh, guys, those onions.
- [groans] - [laughs]
- Phew! - Oh.
- Ah! - Is she gone?
- No, I'm right here. I'm just crying.
[laughter] - Just crying.
That was not fun.
♪ My hands to myself ♪