I really liked the egg, rapini, pancetta combination of the savory pudding I made a few weeks ago but don’t often have the right kind of bread on hand. This frittata delivers the same flavors to the taste buds without the extra trip to the bakery.

Sun Oven Frittata with Rapini and Pancetta

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 bunch rapini, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

8 eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon milk

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

8 thin pancetta slices

Preparation

Set Sun Oven out to preheat. Coat a shallow pot, skillet, or pie tin with cooking spray, set aside.

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat.

Add the garlic and red pepper and sauté briefly, about 30 seconds.

Add the rapini, season with salt, cover and cook until wilted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the milk, cheese, salt and pepper. Stir in the cooled rapini.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, cover and transfer to the Sun Oven.

Cook until the pancetta is cooked and the eggs are set, 35 to 45 minutes.

Use a spatula to carefully loosen the frittata from the pan. Transfer to serving plate and cut into wedges. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Rapini, also known as broccoli rabe, has a slightly bitter taste that pairs perfectly with pancetta. If you can’t find it, or don’t like it, use regular broccoli instead.

Sun Oven Savory Italian-style Bread Pudding

(adapted for the Sun Oven from Bon Appétit)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 bunch rapini, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

6 large eggs, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups whole milk, at room temperature

8 cups county-style white bread, cut into 1-inch pieces

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra for sprinkling

6 thin slices pancetta (Italian bacon)

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Set Sun Oven out to preheat. Spray a baking dish with cooking spray, set aside.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper, stirring until the garlic is soft but not browned, about 30 seconds. Add the rapini; season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing often, until wilted, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Season with salt and pepper. Add the cooled rapini, 1/2 cup Parmesan, bread, salt and pepper and toss to combine. Transfer to the prepared baking pan. Top with additional Parmesan and the pancetta. Bake in the Sun Oven until set in the middle, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Makes 6 servings

Whenever I cook bacon I try to make some extra to have on hand for recipes like this soup. I learned from experience to squirrel away any strips I want to save for later. Otherwise it tends to mysteriously disappear from the serving plate. Bacon is easy to cook in the Sun Oven, click here to see how.

Sun Oven Black-eyed Pea Soup

Ingredients

1 pound dried black-eyed peas, picked over, rinsed, and soaked overnight

1/4 pound smoked ham, cubed

1 onion, diced

4 carrots, chopped

4 stalks celery, chopped

2 dried red chiles

1 bay leaf

2 strips cooked bacon, crumbled

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

10 cups water

salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, minced

Olive oil for serving

Preparation

Set Sun Oven out to preheat.

Drain the black-eyed peas and place them in a large pot. Add the next 9 ingredients (ham through water) and stir to combine. Cover and cook in the Sun Oven until the peas are tender, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Stir in the parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls and drizzle each serving with olive oil.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

The recipe I used for Wednesday’s pie left me with a quite a bit of extra dough. If I’d left it in the freezer I’m sure it would have wound up pushed to the back and forgotten, so today I put it to good use with some of the other Thanksgiving Day leftovers and make some quiche. After consulting a few different recipes online I decided to wing it. First I baked the crusts (in the Sun Oven, of course) then filled the individual tart pans with a mixture of 4 eggs, about 2/3 a cup of mashed sweet potato, cooked chopped swiss chard, some crumbled cooked bacon, and grated Parmesan cheese. Then back to the Sun Oven to bake until the filling was set. The four pans would fit on the leveling tray, but for easier handling, and better air flow, I used two of the dehydrating racks as pictured below.

The bacon adds flavor to this rich soup but can be omitted for a vegetarian version. It’s added after the beans have been cooking for a while and I often forget. I like  it either way.

Sun Oven Cuban Black Bean Soup

Ingredients

1 pound dried black beans, picked over, rinsed, soaked overnight, and drained

5 cups water

1 large onion, diced

3 celery stalks, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced

1 tablespoon paprika

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon ground coriander

2 strips bacon (optional)

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Set Global Sun Oven out to preheat.

Combine first 10 ingredients (beans through coriander) in a large pot; cover and cook in Sun Oven until beans start to soften, about 1 hour. Place bacon on top of bean mixture and continue to cook in Sun Oven until beans are cooked, about another hour. Remove pot from Sun Oven; discard bacon. Purée 4 cups of the soup in a food processor or blender. Add puréed soup to remaining soup. Stir in vinegar; season with salt and pepper.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

English muffins would work great and if you don’t have the little metal mugs you could use a muffin tin or a baking pan. Get the bacon in the Sun Oven first thing in the morning. It takes about 40 minutes to solar cook it.

Baked Eggs and Toast

Ingredients

1 slice cooked bacon per serving (click here for tips on cooking bacon in your GSO)

1 slice sourdough bread or 1/2 English muffin per serving

1 egg per serving, room temperature

baby spinach

salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

Coat tin cup, muffin tins, or a baking pan with cooking spray. Break toast in two pieces and place in cups. Put about 1/4 cup spinach leaves in each cup. Break one slice of bacon into pieces and add to cups. Crack one egg into each cup. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in Sun Oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until whites are firm.

For a vegetarian version, substitute leftover sautéed mushrooms for the bacon. If you have leftover greens use those instead of the spinach.

I like this simple recipe for baked beans that I found over at epicurious.com. It has a hint of maple syrup without being overly sweet. It goes great with pulled pork.

Solar Baked Beans

1 pound dry navy beans, picked over and rinsed

1/4 pound piece salt pork, rind discarded*

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 cup grade B maple syrup

1 tablespoon dry English mustard

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

salt to taste

Preparation

Soak beans overnight.

Set Global Sun Oven out to preheat.

Rinse and pat dry the salt pork, then cut into 3 pieces. Put first 7 ingredients (beans through pepper) in a large pot with 4 cups of water, stir to combine. Cover pot and bake in Sun Oven until the beans are just tender, 3 to 4 hours. Remove lid and cover pot with a folded tea towel (this will help absorb excess moisture) continue baking until most of the liquid is absorbed but beans are still saucy. Stir in vinegar and salt.

Makes 8 servings

*I don’t use salt pork a lot so when I buy it I cut it into 1/4 pieces and freeze them. That way I always have the right amount for this recipe.

Pancetta is an Italian bacon. It’s not smoked and has no sugar added. Purists will tell you that you must use pancetta (or the even harder to find ‘guanciale’) to make a true Amatriciana sauce. I used to be one of them until I got tired of spending excessive time and money tracking down exotic ingredients. American bacon may add an untraditional smokey flavor to the sauce but it’s still good.

Amatriciana Pasta Sauce

Ingredients

2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 pound pancetta or bacon, diced

1 small onion, thinly sliced

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 (14 1/2 oz) cans imported whole Italian tomatoes with their juices, chopped

Freshly grated pecorino Romano cheese for serving

Preparation

Set Global Sun Oven out to preheat

Toss onion and pancetta (or bacon) with oil in a light-weight, dark pot. Cook in Sun Oven, uncovered until onion begins to soften, 10 to 20 minutes. Stir in red pepper and tomatoes, cover and continue cooking until tomatoes have reduced and separated from the oil, 30 to 40 minutes. Add salt to taste. Serve with a generous dusting of pecorino Romano cheese.

Makes enough sauce for 1 to 1 1/2 pounds of pasta.

Confit may be a way of preserving food, but the batch I made the other day is almost gone, so I didn’t get a chance to put it to the test. So far we’ve had it with pasta (twice), in egg sandwiches along with some of the bacon, and with tonight’s twist on a traditional Italian soup.  I thought the bacon infused tomatoes would give a bit of an American flair, a sort of Pork ‘n’ Beans meets Pasta Fagioli.

Pasta Fagioli All’Americana

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups dried cranberry beans, picked over and rinsed

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, plus additional for serving

2 medium carrots, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 cup tomato confit

salt and pepper to taste

3/4 to 1 cup dry pasta, cooked.

Freshly grated pecorino cheese for serving

Preparation

Soak beans overnight.

Set Global Sun Oven out to preheat.

Drain beans, simmer beans in a covered pot in the Sun Oven in enough water to cover them by 2 inches until soft, about 2 hours. Remove beans from Sun Oven, do not drain. In a separate pot large enough to hold the beans with their liquid combine oil, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cover and cook in the Sun Oven until vegetables are soft, about 30 minutes. Add tomato confit and continue cooking until heated through, about 2o minutes. Add beans with enough cooking liquid to reach desired consistency to the tomato mixture, simmer until flavors are blended, about 30 minutes. Stir in cooked pasta just before serving. Serve with cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.

Makes 4 servings.

If you prefer you can cook the pasta directly in the soup. If you choose to do so, add more of the cooking liquid with the beans and do not add the pasta until you are ready to eat, even if that means finishing the soup up on the stove. The pasta will become soggy if left in the soup too long.

I set my Sun Oven out first thing in the morning, even if I don’t know what I’ll be cooking, just so it will be ready when I am. Sometimes I toss in a pan of bacon too, because crispy sun cooked bacon always comes in handy at some point during the day.

Sun Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Bacon

Ingredients

1/2 pound bacon

1 1/2 pound fingerling potatoes

1 medium onion, sliced

kosher salt

Preparation

Set Global Sun Oven out to preheat.

Cook the bacon until crisp in the Sun Oven – click to see how – or in a frying pan. Drain bacon on paper towels and set aside, reserve the cooking fat.

Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise. Toss the potatoes in a large, lidded roasting pan* with the onion and enough bacon fat, 2 t0 3 tablespoons, to coat the vegetable well. Spread the vegetables out in one layer. Season with salt, cover and place in the Sun Oven until the potatoes are soft, about 1 hour. Remove pan from the Sun Oven, toss with crumbled bacon.

*If you don’t have a large roasting pan with a lid use a rimmed baking dish oven bag.