Luscious Solar Braised Lamb Shanks

When I started experimenting with solar cooking a few years ago I found it a little annoying that I had to invest in new cookware. I'd spent years accumulating a rather impressive collection of high quality cast iron pots and pans. Like many, I thought that they were not suitable for solar cooking. You can imagine how delighted I was to discover that they can in fact be used with a Sun Oven.

Today's dish started indoors in the dutch oven. I sliced an onion and sauteed it in some olive oil until it began it was golden. Then I stirred in about a tablespoon of chopped, fresh rosemary and two cloves of chopped garlic.  In the meantime I browned the lamb shanks, which I'd seasoned with salt and pepper, and coated in flour, in a separate pan. When they were browned I transfered them to a plate and poured about half a cup of dry red wine in the pan, brought it to a boil, stirring to loosen any brown bits. I added that to the onions in the dutch oven. Then I added about a cup of beef broth, a bay leaf, and the lamb shanks. At this point I transfered the covered dutch oven to the Sun Oven.

For the rest of the day I went about my business while the lamb shanks slowly braised to perfection. By mid afternoon they were fall off the bone tender. Unfortunately I'll have to wait until tomorrow to taste them. It's Martin's night out and it was too nice of a meal to eat alone.