Solar Cooking Weekend Update

After my saltless bread baking disaster on Friday, what did I chose to make in the Sun Oven yesterday? You guessed it, more baking. Banana Coconut Muffins to be exact. This is the second time I've made them using a recipe from epicurious.com. This time to lighten them up a bit I cut the butter called for in half and substituted buttermilk for the rest. I also used a mixture of white and whole wheat flours and only half a cup of sugar. To be sure I didn't forget anything important, like the baking powder, I lined up all the ingredients in order and double checked each one. It took about forty five minutes to bake them to golden perfection in the Sun Oven. To reward ourselves for the many things we accomplished around the house yesterday, we enjoyed a couple of them with a nice cup of tea. The rest I froze for future treats.

This morning I roasted some sweet potatoes for a vegetarian shepherd's pie I'll be making tomorrow. I forgot to take a picture but I'm sure you know what they look like. Then I made a salmon loaf using a recipe from "The Healthy Slow Cooker". The recipes in this book are excellent and easily adapted for solar cooking. It's the second time I've made this too and I didn't make any major changes.



Here's how I made it:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 stalks celery, finely chopped
8 oz mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 egg (the original called for three but I found that to be too much)
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 can (14.5 oz) salmon, including bones and liquid, skin removed
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
3/4 cup bread crumbs

In as skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, celery and mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally until celery is tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in tarragon and pepper and cook for about 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside.

Drain salmon, reserving liquid, and remove skin. In a large bowl beat egg with lemon juice. Add salmon and mash with a fork. Add reserved mushroom mixture, parsley, breadcrumbs and enough salmon liquid to obtain the right consistency.

Line an oval lidded roasting pan with a piece of foil. Lightly coat foil and pan with cooking spray. Shape salmon mixture into a loaf and place on the foil strip.

Cover and place in Sun Oven.

Today, mine was done in under two hours.

Solar Salmon Loaf

Once again I was a little hesitant to do any solar cooking today. The morning sky was partly cloudy and the forecast was for increasing clouds throughout the day. In the end I decided to go for it. Once again, despite the on again off again sunshine, the Sun Oven delivered.

I've been looking for a recipe that uses canned salmon that could be adapted for solar cooking for months. So imagine my excitement when Martin picked up a slow cooker cookbook at a yard sale that included a recipe for salmon loaf. The book, "The Healthy Slow Cooker", is one of the best of it's kind. There are a number of recipes I want to try - unlike most cookbooks that only have one or two enticing dishes. The turkey thighs from a couple of days ago were also inspired by one of its recipes.

On a scale of one to ten I'd give the salmon loaf a seven. It makes an excellent weeknight dinner, but I probably wouldn't serve to guests. I'd also play with the seasoning to personalize it a bit. It's a basic loaf recipe, sauteed onions, celery, and mushroom are seasoned with dried tarragon. Beat three eggs with some lemon juice, add two cans of salmon, bread crumbs, and the vegetable mixture. Form a loaf. Put that in an oval shaped roasting pan lined with aluminum foil. Cover it and place it in the Sun Oven. I served it with tzatziki (store bought), a salad, rice, and a glass of wine.