things I love to cook

5 things:

1. menu #11 from THE FAMILY MEAL: HOME COOKING WITH FERRAN ADRIA:  Asparagus and fried egg; Chicken wings, garlic, and mushrooms; Fruit in homemade sangria.

2. Takes longer than the recipe specifies, but the longer the chicken wings recipe cooks, the browner and tastier it gets.

3.  Cooking from this book has taught me two things:  do the grocery shopping the day before (unless it's for fish).  That means having the mushrooms, the chicken wings, enough garlic (I used 12 cloves),
and both white and red wine.  the white wine is for the chicken wings, and the red is for the sangria.  It also means having about a dozen spears of fresh asparagus on hand--6 per serving--and at least two eggs.  Saute the asparagus in a pan in hot oil, remove to plates, then turn up heat, make sure there's enough oil in the pan, and cook the eggs (one per serving) on high.  I flipped mine cuz I don't like the "over easy" finish for eggs.  You can do this while the chicken wings are cooking and almost done.    When the eggs are nice & crispy, add one on top of the asparagus on each plate.  salt & peppered, of course.

4.  The second thing I learned is that you can make the sangria part the night before.  Add the fruit and let it soak in the refrig until mealtime.  If you don't have Cointreau for the homemade sangria, it's ok.  Tastes fine all the same.  I made mine with sections of half an orange (used the first half to make juice for the sangria), about 2 cups of watermelon chunks,  half a dozen sweet red plums, red wine, a tsp of sugar.  Mix the juice, wine, and sugar (and 2 tbsp of cointreau if you have it) and put it in a bowl.  add the chopped fruit and let it sit in the fridge overnight.

5.  This is an amazing lunch that will make you happy!!  and you won't need any supper, either, though I sometimes have a bowl of cheerios at night.