Chicken Wings the 'El Bulli' way

No, I am definitely not trying to imitate the 'molecular gastronomy' way of cooking, invented by Ferran Adrià in his famous restaurant El Bulli in Roses, Catalonia (Spain). Adrià has been called the world's greatest chef: the Salvadore Dali of the kitchen. But he also published a book (the Family Meal) which has been given to me as a birthday present by my dear friends Ellen and Dorian. This book contains 93 recipes of meals which were not prepared for the guests of El Bulli, but for the staff. Every afternoon a meal was cooked for the 75 members of the staff and they enjoyed that meal before the guests arrived.
The chicken wings prepared the El Bulli way are my favorite: great for a meal, but also for serving (prepared in the morning and warmed in the baking oven) when friends arrive in the afternoon for drinking a glass.

Ingredients:
- about 20 chicken wings
- 30(!) cloves of garlic
- 350 g mushrooms
- a small bunch of thyme
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 glasses dry white wine
- olive oil
- some water
- pepper and salt

Method:
Cut off the wing tips and separate the remaining wing pieces by cutting through the joint. Put the wings in a large baking tin and add pepper and salt. Splash generously olive oil over them and bake the wings high in the roasting oven for about 40 minutes. 

Check them regularly and turn them over a few times so they get browned on all sides. Chop the garlic (it isn't necessary to remove all the skin, only remove the base of the cloves) and let them bake together with the wings for the last 5 minutes of baking time. Slice the mushrooms. You can use any mushrooms, depending on what's available. I love porcini (penny buns or cep), which we are picking in the autumn ourselves. When out of season, I use deep-fried porcini, or dried ones, which I soak in the white wine. Add the herbs and the mushrooms to the wings when they are browned, splash over the wine and some water and transfer the tin to the roasting oven again for about 20 minutes. 

Take it out a few times to mix all the ingredients and eventually you can use the baking oven for the last 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are well done. Buen apetito! 

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Torta Contadina alle Pere (Italian rustic pear tart)

A few months ago I posted a recipe about making a simple apple tart and I have had many reactions from friends who baked it: they were all excited. So when my friend Ellen sent me an email with a recipe about an (also) simple pear tart, I decided to bake it in my Aga. This recipe is also originally from Italy, published by Katie Caldesi (www.caldesi.com) in her book Mangiare!
The original recipe mentiones chocolate drops and pine nuts, which I left out, and I reduced the amount of milk, because I think the dough gets to wet otherwise. And I am using cold butter instead of butter at room temperature, because it makes a better dough. At last: I think that also sweet bakings need salt, which is not mentioned in the original recipe. The baking powder gives the baking a little salty taste, but I used also salted butter (as I always do).

Ingredients:
- 200 g flour
- 15 g baking powder
- 200 g granulated sugar
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 50 g milk
- 2 pears, peeled and cut in thin slices
- 100 g cold salted butter
- 1 vanilla bean, scraped out
- lemon zest (of a whole lemon)
- 80 g raisins

Ingredients

Ready for baking

Method:
For the amounts of ingredients mentioned above I use a round baking pan which measures 24 cms. Grease the side by using some melted butter and dust it with flour. Cover the bottom with baking paper.
Now mix the flour, the sugar, lemon zest, the scraped out vanilla and the baking powder, using a whisk. Add the beaten eggs and the milk and work it in using a rubber spatula. When the dough is becoming smooth, mix the raisins in. Now you can add the cold butter, sliced in small cubes. Just gently work them in using your spatula.
Poor the mixture in the prepared baking pan and push the sliced pears into it (arrange them nicely). Bake the tart for 35 to 40 minutes on a rack placed high in the baking oven.

NB: Aga-cooking is a kind of slow cooking. If you are using a 'normal' oven, 25 to 30 minutes on 180º C. will probably do.

Klik hier om dit recept in het Nederlands te lezen.