cooking it soul-ar style

meatless mondays
on notes from maggie's farm

©from maggie's farm 2011

did i mention it's hot outside?  it's baking!  we've had 34 days over one hundred degrees out here and my normally abundant energy levels have been severely compromised.  i begin to wilt, oh, about five minutes after leaving the gloriously air-conditioned confines of my home.  my nanny goat climbs the milking stand in what appears to be slo-mo, with an incredulous, you want what from me? attitude. as soon as the coast is clear, the dogs run straight for the livestock water trough, jump in, and just stand there.  ten minutes into the day's chores, and i'm looking to see if there's room enough for me, too. 

©from maggie's farm 2011

and even though the bounty from the gardens has slowed (they don't like the heat anymore than I, it seems), there is still a lot of goodness overflowing the bowls and pails that litter the kitchen tables and floors around this time of the year.  but who wants to cook?  who wants to stand over a hot stove?  who wants to heat the kitchen with the oven?  not me!  especially on monday, when it's time to pick up the mess we've made over the weekend, and do the laundry.  i'd like to do something healthy, not heavy, easy, and heat-free!  so..........today i've turned to soul-ar cooking!  (and we'll get to why it's not simply just solar cooking, after the recipe)

©from maggie's farm 2011

soul-ar style roasted tomato, mushroom, and olive couscous with rosemary

©from maggie's farm 2011

gather fresh tomatoes (we used a beautiful bunch that serendipitously ripened together), whole green olives (we used some imports), mushrooms (we used baby bellas), rosemary (fresh from our garden--it thrives in this dry heat), enough couscous for two or more (which is about a cup, in our case), olive oil, kosher salt and freshly-ground pepper.

©from maggie's farm 2011

 
maybe a little parmesan, for good measure.

©from maggie's farm 2011

 

prepare an aluminum sheet pan by lining with foil.  slice tomatoes, pit olives and halve (or leave whole and leave the pitting until sun roasting is completed), slice mushrooms.

©from maggie's farm 2011

lay in a single layer on on your sheet pan.  salt tomatoes, only.  grind pepper over all.  lightly crush rosemary leaves in the palm of your hand to release oils, and scatter over tomatoes and mushrooms. drizzle olive oil over all.

©from maggie's farm 2011

frame tray with rosemary twigs, to rest glass dishes upon when covering vegetables.  this will allow steam to escape, and keep any pesky flies out.

©from maggie's farm 2011

and place glass baking dish (or dishes, as necessary) over the pan, to make your quickie little solar oven. situate your setup on a surface in the sunniest part of your porch or patio.  we upped the ante by moving our stainless steel prep table to the front porch, in the most direct sunlight. 

©from maggie's farm 2011

life gives you lemons? (read scorching heat!)  make lemonade! (read solar oven!).  your heat and sun exposure will give this whole proposition variable cooking times, however as an estimation, for us, 10am-4pm sun-roasted our veggies beautifully. 

©from maggie's farm 2011

prepare couscous according to directions.  we warmed the 1 and 1/2 cup water on the porch in a stainless steal bowl, just hoping for a belated girl scout badge.  we added our 1 cup of couscous and let it soak until liquid was absorbed, then grated parmesan cheese and tossed it in with a fork.  at dinnertime, we tossed our sun-roasted veggies with the couscous, and dinner was on.

©from maggie's farm 2011

so, you ask, what makes all this 'soul-ar', instead of simply solar?  well, a few things. 

first--it's good for the soul.  conserving a little of your own energy, as well as the environment's--that's a good thing.  gets you in touch with nature.  makes you realize just how much you can create with your very own two hands, and not much of anything else. 

secondly-- you can expend of some of that reserved energy on something a lot more fun.  like soul.  soul music!  bop around the house doing the rest of your monday housekeeping to the sweet, sweet sounds of stevie, wilson, patty, sly, and the rest of the gang.  it's the best way i know of making a whole lot of fun of what could be a whole lot of drudgery. (lemon/lemonade, remember?)

thirdly--it's going to save me a little time.  time that i'm going to spend, today, at another of my favorite 'soul-ar' enterprises.  if you're in the austin area, maybe you'd like to join me, there. 

hoover's soular foods trailer and garden

it's the newest baby of hoover alexander, of hoovers restaurants fame, in austin.  anything hoover touches has to be delicious.  case in point--my favorite weekend breakfast in austin, served at both locations: 

* Shrimp’n’ Grits: A big platter of creamy grits smothered in shrimp etouffee i can't wait to see what they have on the food trailer menu today.  be sure to follow the links above for directions. if you get a chance to stop by, tell them from maggie's farm sends our best--our readers! stay cool, friends. literally.