Selena + Chef

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.

Honestly, I'm not confident enough.

So while I've been stuck at home

these past few months, I thought,

"What better time to improve

my skills in the kitchen?"

So I've asked some of the best chefs

to school me.

Oh, man. This is a lot.

They're at home, I'm at home,

and we're gonna see if we can make a meal together...

Check, check, one, two.

Apart.

I don't have the script.

Oh, it's so awkward.

Selena and Antonia, take one.

So let's try this.

Oh, I'm getting nervous.

Hey, Antonia? Ah!

I finally see you.

Hi, Selena.

How are you?

I'm so good.

How are you?

- This is my first television show

being filmed via nobody near me.

- Today, I will be cooking with Chef Antonia Lofaso.

She is the executive chef and partner

of three fantastic restaurants here in LA

and a cookbook author.

This is a very weird thing to do,

but I'm very, very happy

and grateful that you decided to do it.

Oh, my goodness. Absolutely.

I mean, what are we gonna say, no to Selena Gomez

in my kitchen? -

- That being said, I actually have my best friend,

who I have been quarantined with during this,

who I've been friends with

since junior high.

This is her, right here. - Hi!

How's it goin'?

I've actually quarantined here

with my friends Liz and Raquelle.

Hey, girl.

- Aww, it's, like, best friend and best friend.

- Whoo! - Yas!

Friends! - Whoo!

All right, what are you gonna teach me to cook?

- So I thought making a seafood tostada would be a lot of fun.

It's a recipe from Dama,

which is my third restaurant in Los Angeles.

It's Latin-inspired. But don't get nervous.

We're gonna deal with whole, raw octopus.

Oh, gosh.

- I think I'll have one of my friends grab that.

- I'm excited to show you how to cook this.

So we've got a pot for boiling water on the stove.

- I have a few pots in here. - That's perfect!

So go ahead and fill that pot with water.

My style of cooking is very, very straightforward.

Everything done well, incredible ingredients,

something that resonates with people.

Something that just makes you feel good.

Now in the other pot that you just had,

you're gonna pour roughly 8 cups of olive oil.

This might take me a minute.

- You're gonna just have to be patient with me, I guess.

Take your time. Don't worry.

Mine's already on the stove.

- Oh, well, didn't you just beat me to it?

As a chef, we always have our mise en place

ready to go.

What's the word again?

So it's actually three words.

It's "mise en place."

"Meese and floss."

Roughly translates to

"everything in its place."

Love that.

- You're gonna get that on the stove,

and you're going to put

the temperature thermometer

in the pot.

And we want the oil to read

no more than 120 degrees.

- This is it? - Oh, yeah.

Okay, so throw that in there.

- You can leave it in there as long as it sits.

If not, we can put it in and out.

Or we can just bring it

in there later.

Okay, I'm gonna maybe do that.

- Okay, so grab a clove of garlic

and, like, a... A couple of sprigs of cilantro.

And I can show you...

Wow, she... she left... She... she's gone.

- I'm right here. I'm right here, I'm right here.

She's got her groceries.

- Okay, garlic. - Take a small knife.

- Okay. - And then you're gonna

put the knife on top of the garlic,

and then hit it with the base of your hand.

Harder.

Actually hit it.

You're, like, punching the top of your knife.

Yes.

Yes, yes, yes, yes. - Perfect.

- Okay, so throw that inside the oil, and then the cilantro,

to season a little bit

of that oil. - Oh.

So it's three different kinds

of seafood in the tostada.

We're basically olive oil poaching

the calamari and the shrimp,

and then we're going to just do a quick

braise to the octopus.

You look like a real cook now

with all your ingredients laid out like that.

I know! Thank you.

- You ready for octopus time? It's octopus time, lady.

Just take a deep breath.

Think about it. Breathe it in.

Swirl it around your mouth for, like...

No! That made it worse.

- Raquelle! - What is happening?

This is my friend Raquelle,

who I've been quarantining with.

- Hi, hello! - Hi, Raquelle.

- Hi! - Hi.

- Nice to meet you. - You go get it.

- Oh, my gosh, I'm scared. Where is it?

It's in the fridge.

- I'm coming in hot, watching you, Raquelle.

Oh, my God.

- Ew. - Oh, my gosh.

Here you go.

Ew.

- So I would take it out and put it in a bowl

so that we can play with it.

- Why would we wanna play with it?

- Wow. - So, Selena, watch.

You're gonna just do this.

Like, get the water off

with your hand.

Yeah, the body. There you go.

Yes.

Now put that on the cutting board... excellent.

She can't even look at it.

- You're doing great, you're doing great.

You're holding its head in your right hand.

You wanna cut its head off.

All right, put the head back in the bowl.

We're not gonna use it. You're doing great.

Thank you.

Now, Selena,

see these long pieces in the end?

We don't need these.

You're just gonna trim those

off so it looks like this.

- What do I do? - There you go.

Just cut them off. - With scissors?

- Scissors are fine. There you go.

Perfect, so now,

you're gonna remove

these pieces, just like that.

Oh, my gosh.

You got it.

- The gagging is my favorite part of this.

Oof. Okay, now what?

Okay.

Put all of your octopus legs

inside of a Ziploc bag. - You got it.

- Once they're all inside of a Ziploc bag,

you're gonna peel the lemon like an apple.

And then those are gonna go inside the bag.

Cilantro and another clove of smashed garlic.

So you see how all the flavors

are kind of echoing each other?

Chefs like to call this an echo.

So later when you're eating this, you're gonna be like,

"Oh, my God, do you taste the echo?"

- "Do you taste the echo?" I'm gonna use that.

- So now take as much air out as you can.

You're gonna actually put this

inside of your water on the stove.

Right.

- Okay, so you see how you're pushing it down?

- Yeah. - Take a cloth,

and you're gonna put that inside the pot.

So now I'm telling you to put things

that you've probably never put inside of a pot before.

Wait.

Get something to push it down.

Put it all in, push it all in.

- Are you sure? - Not with your fingers.

Selena... with a stick. - What? Oh.

- You can do it. - With a stick.