Saturday, January 30, 2010

Solar Osso Buco

I had my fingers crossed all week hoping for at least one good sunny day. I snatched up some veal shanks on special at Whole Foods a few days ago and they needed to be cooked by today. If the sun had not made an appearance I would have been forced to cook them indoors, and that would have meant keeping an eye on them for two to three hours as they slow roasted on the stove. Luckily we got a day of mostly sun today. I much prefer braising meat in the Sun Oven. Once that glass lid is closed I don't even have to think about it until dinnertime.

The recipe is extremely simple. Heat a little butter and olive oil in a dutch oven. Dredge the cross cut veal shanks in flour, then brown them on both sides. Add salt, pepper, and some dry white wine. Cover and transfer to a preheated Sun Oven. Just before serving remove the shanks from the pot. Heat cooking liquids to reduce. Add chopped parsley and lemon peel. Return the shanks to pot, turning to coat with pan juices. Serve immediately.

Accuweather.com has come up with five different ways to say partly cloudy for it's five day forecast. It looks like it's going to be another week of impossible to plan solar cooking. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really looking forward to the summer months of continuous sunshine. Even if it does mean triple digit temperatures.

6 comments:

  1. I know what you mean. We had a nice little spell of sun and warm winter weather that gave me a chance to enjoy the solar oven, but, now, we're back to cold weather and snow with heavy clouds for the next few days. 8-(

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  2. Wow. I never thought I would hear you say (or in this case spell) "I'm really looking forward to the summer." Even though it is really hot there is lots 'o' sun. Great for solar cooking!

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  3. How funny, but I agree. I am not a summer liker, but after using my solar cooker and living just around the corner from the author (I live in Gilbert too), I have enjoyed the solar cooker and depend on the sun now. Take the good with the bad I guess. Again thanks for you blog.

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  4. Wow, sounds like we need to start a solar cooking club in Gilbert! Just discovered your blog. It will be a great help with the solar oven we got for Christmas. One question though, how did you get rid of the chemical smell/taste the oven has when new?!?

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  5. Hi TGinAZ. Thanks for reading my blog. To get rid of any manufacturing odors I followed the instructions that came with the Sun Oven. Basically leave the empty oven to heat up in the sun for 60 to 90 minutes, let it cool completely, and clean the inside of the chamber and glass door win a non-abrasive cleaning solution. The instructions are in the booklet under "Preheat".

    Dear friends at Sun Oven International - if you're reading this I would like to suggest moving the "Preheat" paragraph to the top of the page and titling it "Getting Started". Just a suggestion. Where it is now is a bit like a getting halfway through a recipe that contains the words "but before you do that". Quite often when a cook reads that it is already too late!

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  6. Interesting post I enjoyed read this

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