I've been preparing my own meals for over 30 years and while I'm no super chef you'd think I'd trust my instincts by now. I have never cooked, or eaten, wheat berries before so I used a recipe from Cooking Light. There was one thing in the recipe that bothered me, it called for canned diced tomatoes that were to be added to the soup at the very end and cooked for only 5 minutes. I should have followed my gut and cooked the tomatoes with the other vegetables while the beans and wheat berries were in the solar oven. Just as I feared the tomatoes did not have enough time to mellow and the soup was a little acidic. Next time I'll do it my way.
This soup reminded me of a Tuscan specialty made with farro, a type of wheat grown in Italy. I got the wheat berries, along with some brown rice, from Massa Organics. I know I could have bought it from a grocery store but I like these guys. They have a cool website and blog and they raise ducks. If you're lucky enough to be near them be sure to check out their products at various farmer's markets or you can order them online.
In addition to adding the tomatoes earlier, you may want to use whole canned tomatoes and just cut them up. I just learned recently that most diced canned tomatoes contain an additive that allows the tomatoes keep that firm texture. I always liked canned whole tomatoes better and now I know why.
ReplyDeleteThat's why I always use imported Italian tomatoes. They are more expensive but contain no additives. I like pomì or whole marzano tomatoes.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, I'm really enjoying your blog. I love home-cooked meals and sitting down to dinner with my husband. We live in Texas and the heat has been unbearable. We've been doing lots of fast-cook meals or grilling in order to avoid a hot house. The solar oven sounds like such a great idea for us.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I glad you enjoy my blog. We like grilling too. Unfortunately our propane grill conked out on us recently. I'm going to be trying out a homemade solar cooker that another one of my readers uses. She sent me this link http://solarcooking.org/plans/windshield-cooker.htm My first solar cooker was very similar and it's a pretty good way to get a start without spending a lot of money.
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