Chicken with rice and veggies

Today's dinner adventure was chicken with rice and veggies in the GoSun.

Here are the ingredients:

About 8 to 10 oz. chicken, cubes or strips

1 cup assorted chopped veggies such as tomatoes, onions, peppers, mushrooms, carrots, peas, and asparagus.

Olive oil to marinate chicken.

Salt, pepper, garlic, spices.

1/2 cup of rice.

Method:

Marinate chicken cubes or strips in olive oil with salt, pepper, spices, and sliced clove of garlic.

Chop veggies.

Oil GoSun tray. Sprinkle bottom with rice. Lay chicken on top, intersperse with veggies. Add salt and pepper as desired. Insert tray in GoSun and cook. It will take about an hour, give or take 10 or 15 minutes.

I didn't start cooking until 5:30 and was worried that I would run out of sun. Forty-five minutes later the rice wasn't cooked yet. At about one hour some light cloud rolled in. Things started smelling delicious about that time. I let it go about an hour and 20 minutes, and I think that was a bit too long.

Observations:

It was a bit dry and the rice was crunchy and caramelized in places. The next time I would try deboned chicken thighs because they are moister. I also used veggies like carrots and asparagus that don't release much liquid. I should have probably used more tomatoes and peppers. I might also add a bit of broth to the rice, maybe a quarter cup or so, before inserting the tray in the tube. BTW this quantity easily served two.

Beef stew

Today's experiment is beef stew. Here are the ingredients:

Approx. 8-10 oz. of stewing beef, cubed
6 small potatoes, halved or cubed
6 shiitake mushrooms
6 or 7 baby carrots
6 pearl onions
2 small tomatoes, halved or cubed
2 cloves of garlic, halved
3 sprigs of thyme
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. flour
salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup each of red wine & beef broth

I tossed the potatoes and the pearl onions with a small quantity of olive oil. In a separate bowl I tossed the meat with olive oil too, then sprinkled on a tablespoon of flour and worked it in. Then I lined the tray with foil, arranged ingredients so there was a bit of everything everywhere, ground on some salt and pepper and lay the sprigs of thyme on top. After inserting most of the tray in the tube, I added the wine and the beef broth, then I closed and sealed it. I started cooking it just before noon. It's a cool day, with dappled sunlight (the dappling is from a tree). This is how it looks after about 45 minutes (it smells delish!):

I just checked it again after an hour, and in the meantime the shade has become a lot more than dappled, so I moved the GoSun to the deck into full sun. I also tasted the broth, and decided to add a bit more salt.

We are at an hour and a half and there is definitely cooking going on now! I see steam coming out. The potatoes are done, but the beef needs a bit more time, just to soften up. I note that putting in the foil was a bit useless, as there is liquid underneath it in the tray. I also think I will need to use a turkey baster to get said liquid out when it's all done.

And here it is after two hours:

The meat is on the bottom under the veggies. I only got about half a cup of liquid out of the whole thing, so after I put the "stew" into a small pot, I topped it up with more beef broth. I am not sure whether it would feed two, but with lots of fresh bread and cheese on the side it might. On second thought adding the flour to the meat was not a brilliant idea, so I'd omit that step next time.

Clean-up was relatively easy.