Sun Oven Soup

  Today I had little desire to cook anything and even less desire to go grocery shopping. Luckily I had quite a few leftovers in the fridge and I managed to throw together a pot of soup, Pasta Fagioli, to be exact. I started with a base of chopped leeks, celery, garlic, and a can of petite diced tomatoes. Normally I'd use carrots too, but I didn't have any. I tossed everything into the pot with a little olive oil. I didn't even bother to saute it first - it went straight into the Sun Oven.

  After an hour or so in the Sun Oven it was time to add the rest of the ingredients. About two cups of beans that I'd cooked earlier in the week, a carton of broth, and the pasta.

  Then it was back to the Sun Oven for another hour or so. When it was ready I stirred in a little more olive oil, some balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. A dusting of parmesan cheese and dinner was served.

  I must say, solar cooking is perfect when you don't want to cook. It took me maybe all of five minutes to chop the vegetables, the Sun Oven did the rest.

More Solar Pasta Fagioli

Whenever I make lamb shanks with beans, a pot of pasta fagioli is sure to follow within a few days. It would be a shame to let the broth from the lamb go to waste. Technically it was not completely solar cooked. This morning I used the Sun Oven to cook some beans in one pot and a mixture of olive oil, leeks, carrot, celery, garlic and canned tomatoes in another. In the evening I combined the broth, beans and vegetable mixture in a dutch oven and brought the soup to a lazy boil before adding the pasta.

Solar Pasta e Ceci

I had completely forgot about this traditional Roman soup until we recently watched the classic Italian film "I Soliti Ignoti" (English title "Big Deal on Madonna Street"). It's a caper movie where a group of hapless thieves sit down to a bowl of Pasta e Ceci after their disastrous attempt to break into a pawn shop. Good Italians that they are, they immediately began discussing the merits and faults of the soup. Since then it's been a regular in our meal rotation. It is basically Pasta e Fagioli with chickpeas instead of beans, and it is a solar cooking favorite.

Pasta e Ceci (chickpea and pasta soup)

1/2 lb dry chickpeas

1 TBS olive oil

1 leek, white and pale green part only, chopped (or 1 small onion)

2 medium carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup chopped tomatoes, preferably Pomì

salt

pepper

1 cup small tubular pasta such as ditalini

2 TBS chopped fresh rosemary

1 TBS balsamic vinegar

freshly grated parmesan cheese

Soak chickpeas overnight. Drain, put chickpeas in a dark pot with water and place in solar oven. While chickpeas are cooking prepare the soup base. Heat olive oil in large heavy dutch oven. Add leek, carrots, celery and garlic and saute until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes. Add chopped tomatoes and let simmer for about 20 minutes. When chickpeas are cooked remove from solar oven. Set aside 1/2 cup chickpeas add remaining to dutch oven with the cooking liquid. Off the heat blend with a emersion blender. At this point if you are ready to eat the soup and there's still enough sun you can put the dutch oven in the solar oven cover and bring to a slow boil. If soup is too thick add some water. Add the pasta, reserved chickpeas, salt and pepper to taste. When the pasta is ready, take the dutch oven out of the solar oven. Add rosemary and balsamic vinegar. Serve with parmesan cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. If it's too late to cook the pasta in the solar oven complete the soup on the stovetop. Do not cook the pasta until you are ready to eat or it will get soggy. Serves 4 to 6.

Solar Oven Pasta e Fagioli with Wine

Mayocoba beans are my new favorite. I had never heard of them, but they are a lot cheaper then the cannellini or cranberry beans I usually use. I decided to give them a try and was not disappointed. After soaking 1/2 lb. overnight I put them in the solar oven early this morning. By the time I got around to chopping the veggies for the soup's base the beans were cooked. If I had started the base at the same time as the beans the soup would have been ready by lunchtime but who wants to chop onions before breakfast? Once the base was done I combined everything in one pot, including the liquid the beans cooked in, and brought it to a slow boil to cook the pasta. All it needed was a touch of balsamic vinegar, a dusting of parmesan cheese, some chopped rosemary and a glass of wine.