Sun Dried Tomatoes, Toasted Coconut, Pasta Fagioli

  I finished up the tomatoes this morning. It only took about an hour for them to dry out completely, so I guess if I'd gotten them started a little earlier yesterday there probably would have been enough time to finish them in on day. With the Sun Oven freed up I was able to toast some coconut for the cookies I'll be baking at the cook off on Saturday in Bisbee, and make a pot of Pasta Fagioli with the broth from the lamb shanks I made the other day.
 It was quite a hectic day, getting foster kittens squared away and making all the preparations for the cook off, but at least I didn't have to worry about burning dinner.

Sun Oven Dried Tomatoes

  I used the last sun dried tomato from my previous batch the other day so when I saw roma tomatoes on sale I snatched some up. They would dry faster if I cut them up in smaller pieces, but I like the texture better when they're halved, even if it means it will take two days complete the process. About the only thing I use them for is my "No Mayonnaise Tuna Spread", but I make a batch almost every week so I like to have them on hand at all times.


No Mayo Tuna Salad Spread
4 - 6 servings

6 sun dried tomatoes
1 tbs capers, drained
6 black olives, pitted
2 cans tuna packed in water
2 tsp olive oil
Fresh parsley or basil (optional)


Soak the tomatoes in a small bowl of warm water for approximately 10 minutes. Drain tomatoes, reserving soaking water, and place in a food processor with the capers and olives. Process until finely chopped. Add tuna, olive oil, and herbs if using, and process until mixed. Add reserved tomato soaking water 1 tsp at a time while processor is running until desired consistency is reached. Depending on the type of tuna, it may not be necessary to add any water at all. 
This spread can be used to make sandwiches or as a pasta sauce. To serve over pasta retain a bit of the cooking water to add in as necessary. It will keep, refrigerated, for three days.

Tomatoes in the A.M.

After one day in the Sun Oven

A Simple Solar Cooked Dinner

After the extensive preparations that went into our two day camping trip, I was too tired to come up with anything exciting for dinner tonight. I followed a recipe for Pasta with Lentil Bolognese from epicurious.com but served it with rice instead of pasta. To modify it for the Sun Oven I used two pots. In the first one I cooked the lentils. I put the rest of the ingredients in the second pot and let them simmer alongside the lentils in the Sun Oven. I have learned from past experience that the acidity of the tomatoes will keep the lentils from softening so I prefer to precook them. When the lentils were almost done I combined everything into one pot and returned it to the Sun Oven. At this point I had enough room to start the rice. I served it just like it was pasta, spooning the lentils over the rice and dusting it with freshly grated romano cheese. It made a simple and satisfying dinner.

Food Drying Stack

Yesterday I found that good deal on tomatoes that I had been looking for, and the timing couldn't have been better. We're going out to dinner with friends tonight, making it a perfect day to use the Sun Oven as a food dehydrator. This time I cut the tomatoes in half. Last time I quartered them and they turned out a little too dry. I used three pizza pans with two custard cups to separate them. I removed the swinging tray from the Sun Oven and placed a trivet on the bottom. It was a bit of a balancing act to get them to fit, I had to keep the oven at a slight tilt, but they are drying nicely. They are taking longer to dry this time, maybe because I only halved them or maybe because I'm using three pans instead of two, in any case it looks like it will be a two day project. That's just over four pounds of roma tomatoes on the trays and I could have fit half a pound more.
In case you're wondering what I do with all these sun dried tomatoes here's one of my favorite tuna recipes.

No Mayo Tuna Salad Sandwich Spread
4 - 6 servings

6 sun dried tomatoes
1 tbs capers, drained
6 black olives, pitted
2 cans tuna packed in water
2 tsp olive oil

Soak the tomatoes in a small bowl of warm water for approximately 10 minutes. Drain tomatoes reserving soaking water and place in a food processor with the capers and olives. Process until finely chopped. Add tuna and olive oil and process until mixed. Add reserved tomato soaking water 1 tsp at a time while processor is running until desired consistency is reached. Depending on the type of tuna, it may not be necessary to add any water at all.

This makes an excellent, low calorie sandwich spread.

Sun Oven Dried Tomatoes

The Sun Oven can also be used as a food dehydrator. All you have to do is prop the glass door open. I'd been planning on making a big batch of sun dried tomatoes as soon as I found a good deal on fresh ones. This morning it dawned on me that I might want to try a small batch first just in case. Good thing I did. I wasn't sure if I should slice the tomatoes or just cut them in half. I was afraid that they would not dry out enough if I cut them in half. I was wrong. The sliced ones stuck to the pan and had to be thrown away. The ones in the picture came out great; I cut them in quarters this time, but when I do find a bargain I'll just cut them in half. A tomato's moisture is no match for the Arizona sun combined with a Sun Oven. These were dry in under six hours.