Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Half Solar Beef Stew


Well it finally happened. I ran out of sun. I dilly dallied around too long this morning. Since I was working from home today I figured I had plenty of time to make my stew. I guess I should have read the recipe closer. The meat had to braise two and a half hours before adding the potatoes and carrots, which needed to simmer for another hour. I didn't get it started until just before noon. With the shorter days and the fact that I currently do not have access to the part of my yard that gets the late afternoon sun - we're reseeding the grass - my solar cooking window is significantly diminished. There just was not enough sunlight to complete the stew. I tried. In fact I just assumed everything was fine and left it in the Sun Oven until dinnertime. It wasn't until I was about to set the table that I realized the vegetables were not anywhere near ready. Not really a disaster. I finished it up on the stove and we had a late dinner. Tomorrow I'll try to get an earlier start.
Once again, I used a recipe from epicurious.com which can be found here:
Beef Stew with Potatoes and Carrots 

2 comments:

  1. Running out of sun? Yup, yup, I hear you!

    I'm running out of the sun on my back patio, north side of the house. So, if I'm going to cook this winter with the sun, it'll be on the front porch, south side of the house.

    I hope you get access to your reseeded yard quick.

    thanks for your blog, it's so informative,

    Peace to you,
    Shamba

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  2. I'm there, too. Just moved some half-roasted pistachio nuts to the inside oven. I lose backyard sun by 2-2:30 pm in the fall and winter months. The front yard is unfortunately not practical given some of the trouble-makers in the neighborhood. I must get organized earlier to solar-cook this time of year.

    Enjoy your trip (and your muffin cupcakes).

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