A Windy Day in Phoenix

Today's crazy weather caught me totally off guard. All morning there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I didn't even bother to check the forecast. I mean, what could possibly go wrong? I took my time getting the lamb shanks ready. I already knew this was going to be a mixed medium meal, that is not entirely solar cooked. The onions and lamb shanks were browned on the stove before transferring everything to the Sun Oven. By the time that was done there were a few clouds in the sky, nothing of real concern, braised meats by definition cook at a low temperature for a long time.

With dinner simmering happily away I went about my business. I kept an eye on the cloud situation, it was once again a day of on again off again sunshine, but the Sun Oven seemed to be maintaining a satisfactory temperature. I don't know why I finally decided to check the forecast on accuweather.com, but when I did I was surprised to see a big banner at the top of the page that said "Red Alert! High Wind Warning! Chance of Thunderstorms!". I'd never seen that before. I'd barely finished reading it when the wind in fact did pick up and within minutes the partly cloudy sky was completely overcast and dark. It was time to move the lamb inside. But wait, it doesn't end here. Half an hour later the sun came out again so I moved the lamb back to the Sun Oven where it stayed until dinnertime. And with all the back and forth I'd worked up a nice appetite.

The Stormy Weather is over. Clear Skies Again. Solar Dinner is Served.

After three days of clouds I was ready for a good solar cooked meal. I made chicken thighs with garlic and rosemary, and root vegetables.  Our guests don't eat beef or pork so my choices are limited. I served it with a turnip risotto made with the pan juices, and some steamed kale. To think, yesterday we had a dust storm, rain, and hail and today there was hardly a cloud in the sky.

Clouds Vs Sun

Today's Accuweather forecast said "clouds yielding to sun". I had no idea what that was supposed to mean so I put the Sun oven out just in case. I really didn't need to cook anything today, we had plenty of leftovers for lunch, two loaves of bread in the breadbox, we both need to lay off the cookies for a while, and we're going out to dinner. About the only thing I had in the fridge was a rutabaga so imagine my surprise when I did a search on epicurious.com and came up with this recipe: Rutabaga Purée with Cardamon and Thyme. I actually had all the ingredients on hand and it could be assembled today and reheated tomorrow. It would have been perfect if the sun had come out for more than ten minutes. Just like last Saturday's sweet potatoes, the rutabaga pretty much sat in the back yard, in a cold Sun Oven, until I called it a day at three o'clock.

Almond Macaroons

According to AccuWeather.com we could expect periods of clouds and sunshine today and intervals of clouds and sun tomorrow. I'm not quite sure what the difference is but it's definitely not ideal weather for solar cooking. As soon as these macaroons were ready for the Sun Oven we were experiencing an extended cloud period. I wound up baking them in the regular oven.

Almond Macaroons

1 cup whole almonds, blanched
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg white
1/2 tsp almond extract
pinch salt

whole almonds, candied cherries

Preheat oven to 350
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
Process 1 cup almonds plus sugar in a food processor (pulse) until fine, add egg white, almond extract and salt, pulse until combined. Roll mixture into 16 balls, arrange 2 inches apart on baking sheet. Slightly flatten balls. Press 1 almond or 1 candied cherry on each cookie. Bake 10 minutes, cool on rack.

Cloudy All Morning

It was cat training day today at the Arizona Humane Society. Once again we left the house early and the forecast called for clouds. This time I didn't even bother setting up the Sun Oven, so of course the sun came out. We got home around 12:30 and with at most two hours of good sunlight left there was no time for any prep work. I had a couple of sweet potatoes in the fridge that I peeled, cut up and put in a roasting pan with a little water. Sure enough, about an hour later the clouds were back. The temperature in the Sun Oven had reached 300ºF. There's a good chance the potatoes were already done, but to be on the safe side I left them in until the temperature had gone down to 200ºF. I'll mash them with some butter for a nice side dish with tonight's dinner.

Solar Cooked Beans and Wheat Berries

It was another day of intermittent clouds so to be on the safe side I decided to solar cook beans and wheat berries to make soup. After soaking them overnight I put them in two separate pots and let them solar cook all day. Surprisingly neither of them were over-cooked.

At dinnertime I pureed half of the beans in their cooking liquid and combined them and the wheat berries with a base of diced onions, carrots, celery, garlic, and strained tomatoes that I'd prepared last night. The outcome was a very satisfying winter's night meal.

Whole Wheat Bread Half Solar Baked

Today's weather was pretty much the exact opposite of yesterday. There wasn't a cloud in sight when I got up. It seemed like the perfect day for solar baking. The sun was still out in force and the Sun Oven was at 350ºF  when I put the loaves in at 11:15 a.m. I don't know where they came from, but half an hour later there were clouds everywhere. The Sun Oven temperature was plummeting. I felt I had no other choice then to move the bread to the indoor oven where I baked it for an additional 30 minutes.

Shortly after the bread was out of the electric oven, and half eaten, the sun came back out for the rest of the afternoon. I'm not sure what would have happened had I not moved it indoors. It would have been in the Sun Oven with no sun for almost an hour. I suppose if I had really wanted to put solar cooking to the test I would have left it out there. I guess I wasn't in the mood for risk taking today.

Tomorrow's forecast is similar to today's and I will be out all day. I'll be putting a bean and wheat berry soup in the Sun Oven before I leave. We'll see what happens with intermittent sunshine.

Raw Ribs

Once again I had to leave home early. Too early to know if the clouds would clear or not. I should have gone with my gut feeling that they would not, but I didn't. There were a few spots of sun in the west, but to the east dark grey clouds covered the entire sky. Against my better judgement I put some ribs in the Sun Oven and left to attend an all day seminar.

 The ribs never really stood a chance. As I sat in the conference hall, unable to rescue them from the elements, I watched the sun come out, only to vanish after a few minutes, over and over, until it finally retreated for good. If you added it all up I'd estimate we got a total of one hour of good sunlight. It was not enough. There would be no solar cooked meal to greet me at the end of the long day. The only thing I could do to salvage our dinner was make reservations.

 When I got home the Sun Oven was cold and the ribs were pink inside. Definitely not safe to eat. This is the first food I've had to throw away due to undercooking since I started my blog. Luckily I wasn't having company tonight.

A Day in the Life of a Sun Oven

I had every intention of using the minestrone left over from Monday to make a risotto for dinner tonight. I'm still on the fence about making risotto in the Sun Oven. Rice prepared in the Sun Oven, especially when cooked in the same pot as chicken, is delicious; it's texture, however, is not creamy like stovetop risotto. I was hoping that with careful timing I'd get more risotto like results. This meant the Sun Oven would be idle until late afternoon. The weather was also iffy.
For the first part of the morning it was mostly cloudy. I put the Sun Oven out anyway so Martin could bake his daily croissant; how quickly habits are formed. Before leaving for a morning appointment I warned him that he might have to bake it in the indoor oven. He didn't. The sun came out long enough to get the job done.
When I got home there were even more clouds on the horizon, but it was still mostly sunny. I took advantage of the preheated Sun Oven to whip up some huevos rancheros. After lunch I decided to get a head start and cook the onions for the risotto. That's as far as I got. By early afternoon the clouds had taken over; we even got a few drops of rain. I wound up having something else for dinner. I'll give solar risotto another try tomorrow. The weather forecast looks good.

Solar Cooking with a Plan

I had my day perfectly planned out. It's boy's night out so I'd be dining alone tonight. I have plenty of leftovers so no need to make anything for dinner. That makes it the perfect day for baking a cake. Made a quick trip to the grocery store after dinner yesterday for a few missing ingredients. All night I was excited about baking for so many reasons. It would be not only my first solar baked cake but I it would also be the first time I used silicone cookware. I chose a recipe from the latest issue of Bon Appetit. I was ready. I couldn't wait till morning.

So of course I woke up to an overcast sky. I really thought I wouldn't be able to solar cook anything today. So much for being prepared. Now what was I going to do? I couldn't put off baking the cake until tomorrow because of my plan. I'm making chicken tomorrow.

By the time I'd finished my morning coffee the sun was making a feeble attempt to pierce through the clouds. Martin insisted that I should go ahead and bake the cake but he doesn't know that you can't just move it once it's in the solar oven.

Solar Pasta Sauce

By the end of the year I should be an expert on predicting the cloud cover. For the past few days it has been just cloudy enough in the morning to make me think I may get a day off from solar cooking. Then by 10:00 a.m. it's sunny enough to put the oven out but the valley is surrounded by clouds on the horizon. These clouds usually roll in sometime in the afternoon so I decided to make something that would cook quickly and could easily be brought in if necessary. Tomato sauce fit the bill. I propped the oven door open to let the steam escape so the sauce wouldn't be watery. It was ready in about an hour. It was good but making pasta sauce is probably not the best use for a solar cooker. It could have been made on the stovetop in about the time it takes to boil the pasta. I'm thinking of trying a sauce that needs to simmer for a few hours, like a bolognese, sometime. Just need to wait until after monsoon season is over so I don't have to worry about afternoon cloudiness.