Coming Home to a Solar Dinner

We were both out all day today and I wanted to come home to a complete solar cooked meal. I didn't want to have to steam any vegetable, or cook some pasta, or even toss a salad. I wanted something that would go straight from the Sun Oven to my plate. Here's what I came with. Turkey legs with rice and vegetables.

I did all the prep work the night before. I chopped a lot of vegetables. I'll try to remember all of them: one leek, half a small head of savoy cabbage, a carrot, a stalk of celery, about a half cup of butternut squash, a small zucchini and a turnip. I also soaked half a cup of cranberry beans. I washed the turkey legs and removed any excess fat. In the morning I combined all the vegetables and the drained beans with a cup of arborio rice and a cup of liquid - half vegetable broth and half white wine - in a large cast iron dutch oven. I place three turkey legs on top, put the lid on, put it in the Sun Oven, and left for the day. When I got home around four I turned the Sun Oven towards the sun to and left it in until dinnertime. The well insulated Sun Oven, combined with the heat retaining cast iron pot, kept the food warm and at a safe temperature.

When we were ready to eat, around 7:00, I took the turkey out and removed the meat from the bones; I'll save myself this step next time by using chicken thighs. I stirred some olive oil, grated parmesan cheese, and freshly chopped basil into the rice. A little salt and pepper and dinner was served. It was very good. We both had seconds.