Entertainment

Watch Cierra Ramirez & Trevor Jackson As They Steam Up The Kitchen (Making Pizza, But Still)

by Tina Kolokathis

For many 20-somethings, a (big) portion of life revolves around pizza. It's the perfect food in any situation: Off work early? Pizza. Up late finishing that assignment? Pizza. Need a quick meal before heading to work? A leftover, cold slice of pizza. But it's rare that pizza-eaters actually try to make the delicacy themselves — Postmates and GrubHub are ingrained in the millennial DNA. And celebrities? Well, they're just like us. I teamed up with a few stars to learn how to make pizza from scratch — saving us that extra delivery fee the next time a craving hits. I made pizza with Cierra Ramirez and Trevor Jackson, and it was unlike any I've had before.

I meet Ramirez, 24, and Jackson, 22, on the set of Elite Daily's Take Me With You at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. The two singers, who collabed on Ramirez's single "Broke Us," and Freeform stars (Ramirez as Mariana on The Fosters spinoff Good Trouble and Jackson as Aaron on Black-ish spinoff Grown-ish) tell me it's the first time they've tried their hand at pizza-making.

Chef Joe starts taking us through the steps, but Jackson is already a pro — or he acts like it, at least. He grabs a fluffy loaf of dough, kneads it to filth, and throws it in the air. It lands lopsided, but he makes up for the presentation by adding a generous drizzle of garlic oil. Ramirez is more delicate with her pie, making sure her crust is the perfect shape before adding her toppings of prosciutto, mozzarella, and provolone.

Ramirez and Jackson not only share a common network but a music label, EMPIRE, and their new single. Ramirez's song "Broke Us" featuring Jackson was released on June 21, and if you think making pizza gets hot, their music video might just steam up your computer screen. That chemistry translates straight into the kitchen we're standing in — though it's more like an effortless friendship than a relationship riddled with sexual tension. They laugh as they toss their pizza dough to each other. "I really respected him as an actor and as a singer, so to get the opportunity to work with him in a different form of art has been fun," Ramirez tells me. "We have worked together, too, on certain things, but this was cool in a new light." Ramirez also joined Jackson on a few stops of his Rough Draft 2 tour, which concluded on June 29 in Brooklyn.

For Ramirez specifically, "Broke Us" is a return to her "first love" of making music. "A lot of people don't know that that's how I got my start," she tells me. Ramirez reveals she has a brand new LP dropping at the end of the summer. For Jackson, music has been a passion while he's been on Grown-ish. In fact, he has a single called "In My Crocs" inspired by Yara Shahidi, who apparently called him out for wearing the infamous footwear in Season 1.

Our pizza comes out of the oven, fresh and piping hot. With the cheese still bubbling (no time to waste), we toast our slices to all the exciting things Ramirez and Jackson will bless us with, both in our ears and on our TV screens. Good Trouble airs on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET and Grown-ish airs on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET, both on Freeform.