Blog » Anne Patterson http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog Women cruisers share their experiences, info and news Mon, 23 Oct 2017 21:55:47 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=3.8.41 Cruiser Anne Patterson makes solar ovens … And shares a recipe http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/2016/02/cruiser-anne-patterson-makes-solar-ovens-and-shares-a-recipe/ http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/2016/02/cruiser-anne-patterson-makes-solar-ovens-and-shares-a-recipe/#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2016 19:59:32 +0000 http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/?p=9529 Anne Patterson and her solar oven, in her ‘other galley’ (the SEA LADY foredeck)

Three years ago on the Women and Cruising blog, Anne Patterson of sv Sea Lady wrote about cooking aboard with a solar oven.

Her experience with the solar oven was so favorable, that when the company producing her ...Read more]]>

Anne Patterson and her solar oven, in her ‘other galley’ (the SEA LADY foredeck)

Three years ago on the Women and Cruising blog, Anne Patterson of sv Sea Lady wrote about cooking aboard with a solar oven.

Her experience with the solar oven was so favorable, that when the company producing her oven went out of business, Anne decided to step in to keep the solar oven in production.

As quite a few cruisers have begun cooking with these ovens, we recently asked Anne to answer some questions about cooking with a solar oven, about her decision to produce the oven, and of course … for some recipes.

Here is the first of a series on solar cooking aboard.

How did you become interested in solar cooking?

I was introduced to solar cooking by a fellow cruiser in Puerto Rico. John baked the most mouthwatering, wholesome, healthy wholegrain bread complete with dried fruit, nuts, and pumpkin seeds. Moist, yet perfectly dense. And without even turning on the oven.

As a frustrated cruising baker (hot galley, temperamental oven, extravagant use of propane), I was hooked at the first bite.

How long have you been using your solar oven aboard?

Anne’s carrot cake, baked in her solar oven.

I have been using my solar oven aboard Sea Lady for seven years now, and I have a solar oven at our summer cottage in Connecticut.

On average I solar cook 3-4 days a week.

Sometimes it’s yummy and exotic, like my 2-layer carrot cake (I’m guaranteed an invitation to every birthday party in the anchorage), other times it’s pantry basics like roasted garlic, organic long grain brown rice (which I can never manage to cook successfully on the stovetop), or steel cut oats for breakfast.

How does a solar oven work?

There are several types of solar cookers including parabolic, vacuum tube and box.

My solar oven (Solavore Sport) is a retained-heat box-type solar cooker, the only practical design for on-board use. The box cooker is also the most versatile of solar cooker designs, meaning you can bake, simmer, roast, dehydrate and even pasteurize water. The Sport’s 1” surround insulation means you can cook even in passing clouds, and food stays warm through sunset.

How does a solar oven work?

How did you learn to cook with your solar oven at the beginning?

People are often a bit intimidated when they first start solar cooking, poring over recipes wondering how to adopt. In just a few tries, however, they often comment “it’s just an oven!” (i.e. no recipe modification required.)

Personally, when I was getting started I thought of it as a crock pot and experimented with the simple basics: jerk chicken, rice & beans, etc.

Probably the key things to remember are:

  • Reduce the amount of water. Since the pots are lidded and the oven lid is closed tightly and you’re cooking at low temperatures, there is no steam escaping. Don’t add water at all to vegetables, or to meats (unless adding wine for flavor!), and cut back on water (try 25% less) for rice and grains.
  • Get an early start. In most areas the sky is clearest in the mornings. This requires behavior modification – tough for some of us! – to start dinner after breakfast, but the rewards are well worth it, and before long it’s routine.
Why did you take over production of the solar oven and launch a new business?

The Sport was invented by engineers at 3M Corporation and distributed out of Minneapolis, Minnesota by the non-profit “Solar Oven Society.” Over 20,000 Sport solar ovens were sold from 2000-2012, at which point the founders felt a need to re-structure and halted production.

Imagine my dismay to hear from my aspiring solar cooking friends that they could not purchase the oven! So I began working with the founders and in January 2015 we re-launched the company as Solavore, LLC.

Are you still cruising?

What Anne does while dinner cooks in the sun.

Absolutely! That was non-negotiable.

Our cruising is, like many in the Caribbean, 6-months on, 6-months off and never far from an airport or fast internet, but we are definitely on the hook.

One of your favorite solar cooking recipe?

Featuring the ubiquitous “calabaza” or green-skinned pumpkin found all over the Caribbean, this Sopa de Calabaza is an elegant starter served on its own or a main course served with a hearty whole grain bread and a green salad.

Sopa de Calabasa
Pumpkin Soup
Serves 8-10

Sopa de Calabasa
Pumpkin Soup
Serves 8-10

This soup is evocative of the Caribbean – colorful pumpkin, spicy ginger, and an unexpected twist: coconut milk

[Note: Calabasa is known as pumpkin in the Caribbean but is really more of a squash. Deep yellow-orange flesh with a speckled dark green skin. Any pumpkin or squash can be used. May be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated – even better!]

Directions:

  • Peel 2 ½ lb. pumpkin. Scrape out the seeds, cut in chunks. Place in Sport roasting pot. Do not add water.
  • In the second roasting pot, place 2 chopped carrots, 1 stalk celery chopped, 1 lg. chopped onion, 1 chopped green pepper, 1-2 T. grated fresh ginger, and a good pinch of crushed red pepper. (For the green pepper use the mild “Pimiento de Cocina”, long slender light green, if available).
  • Place both pots in the solar oven and cook for 1 ½ to 3 hours or until tender.
  • Remove from oven and allow to cool enough to blend.
  • In small batches, blend pumpkin along with liquid generated in the cooking, carrot/onion mixture, and 1 c. chopped tomatoes, canned or fresh. Blend until smooth. Combine all in a large pot. If you prefer your soup thinner you can add vegetable broth at this point, up to 1 c. (but keep in mind you will be adding coconut milk before serving, and the soup should be relatively thick and hearty.)
  • Add ½ t. thyme (more if fresh), salt and pepper to taste.
  • Before serving, stir in 1 can (13.5 oz) coconut milk. Heat to serve.
  • Garnish with fresh parsley or fresh thyme.
  • Great served with cheese sticks, bread sticks or seasoned toast.

Vegan/Vegetarian if made according to the above instructions.
Carnivores may wish to stir in crumbled bacon after the blending stage.
Next

Q&A:
Slow Cooking (with a Solar Oven) on a Slow Boat, by Heather McCarthy

About Anne Patterson

Anne strolling Zoni Beach on Culebra, Puerto Rico, while dinner cooks aboard the SEA LADY.

Anne and her husband Ray Seiffert spend their winters in the Caribbean aboard their Peterson 44 and spend their summers in their cottage on Griswold Island, Connecticut – where they also have a solar oven.

Her year ’round job is living her passion, at the helm of Solavore, LLC, promoting solar cooking in both the developed world and the developing world.

Further reading
]]> http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/2016/02/cruiser-anne-patterson-makes-solar-ovens-and-shares-a-recipe/feed/ 0 Good cookin’: Why I love my solar oven http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/2013/02/ann-patterson-why-i-love-my-solar-oven/ http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/2013/02/ann-patterson-why-i-love-my-solar-oven/#comments Fri, 15 Feb 2013 18:53:37 +0000 http://www.womenandcruising.com/blog/?p=7342 Whenever I present a double-layer homemade carrot cake like this one I’m sure to be met with incredulous guests. Most cruisers do little baking anyway, so I had them on “from scratch”. Trusting their culinary fortunes to the sun is a real stretch – no ...Read more]]>
“You baked that?  On your boat??  In a solar oven???”

Whenever I present a double-layer homemade carrot cake like this one I’m sure to be met with incredulous guests. Most cruisers do little baking anyway, so I had them on “from scratch”. Trusting their culinary fortunes to the sun is a real stretch – no way was this delectable dessert baked on the foredeck!

Truth is, the Sea Lady’s galley oven serves mostly as storage for pots & pans. Baking happens on deck, fueled by the toasty Caribbean sun.

This is not a birthday-cake-special-occasion piece of equipment. Propane fuels the morning coffee and little else, save for the rare drizzly day (or for when the cook procrastinates the daylight away). Arroz y habichuelas (Puerto Rican rice & beans) is a staple. Savory sopa de calabaza (pumpkin soup) and spicy jerk chicken show up regularly. Propane-intensive organic brown rice? Savory and fluffy every time after a day in the sun. And there’s seldom a boat in the anchorage that hasn’t sampled fresh-from-the-oven Sea Lady banana bread.

My culinary workhorse is the SOS Sport oven from SolarOvens.org.


It’s lightweight (10lb), and at 12 ¼” high by 27 ¼” long by 17″ deep stows handily under the salon table for passage-making.

Oven temps are typically in the 210º – 260º F. range, maxing out at 300º F. in equatorial zones – hot enough to cook, not hot enough to burn. These temps may seem low, but keep in mind that food begins to cook at 180º F.

Optional reflectors are available to increase the amount of sunshine for the solar oven in less ideal solar conditions. Cooking is done in 9” covered black graniteware pots (two are included with the oven), which serve to increase the cooking temperature of the food inside. With the sun high overhead, banana bread bakes in about 90 minutes, or roughly one-third longer than in a conventional oven.

The included recipe book ranges from starters to soups to mains to desserts, and there are additional solar oven recipes available online. Ratatouille, Tuna Filets with Tomatoes, Olives & Capers, and even the praise-worthy Carrot Cake pictured above – are all in the included recipe book. And I’m happy to report that I’ve found no need to restrict to solar oven recipes – half the fun is trying new dishes and old family favorites.

Let me tell you more about why I love my solar oven:
  • Nothing burns. You can put dinner on and leave for a day ashore with nary a second thought.
  • Clean-up is a swish (did I mention nothing burns?)
  • The galley stays cool
  • … and our already-modest carbon footprint – being sailors, afterall -  is just that much smaller.  How great is that?

If you are really thankful, what do you do? You share.
W. Clement Stone

But here’s what I really love about my solar oven.

Every dollar spent on an SOS Sport solar oven goes to a US 501(c)(3) non-profit organization called Persons Helping People (the sponsor of the Solar Oven Society), dedicated to helping alleviate hunger in developing countries by helping people help themselves.

Firewood Collecting in Burkina Faso – Photo SolarOvens.org

More than 50% of trees cut globally are used for cooking fires. One family cooking with wood produces approximately 7.6 tons per year of CO2 and damaging smoke particulates.

Kabul, Afghanistan – Photo SolarOvens.org

Ovens just like mine show up in Haiti, Cambodia, Afghanistan, the Congo and elsewhere in the world where conventional firewood cooking strips the land bare and ensures that women and children have little chance of breaking out of the daily grind – not if the family is to eat that night.

All in all, solar cooking is good cooking: sumptuous meals, a cool galley, extra propane, and a small contribution to the family cooks around the world that are not as fortunate as this one, swaying at anchor in the sunny Caribbean.

If you’d like to learn more, see www.solarovens.org.

Anne Patterson
SV Sea Lady
Culebra, Puerto Rico
January 2013

Update (Sep 2015)

Anne loved her solar oven so much she recommended it to her sailing friends. But in 2013, the Solar Oven Society funding dwindled. After supplying more than 20,000 solar ovens to people around the world over 15 years, the organization stopped production.

Anne Patterson launched Solavore™ in 2015, resuming production of SOS’s flagship oven, the Sport.

With guidance from SOS’s founders and the Sport’s designers, Anne is applying a career’s-worth of business savvy to build a robust, sustainable company that generates not only profits but also social and environmental dividends.

www.solavore.com

About Anne Patterson
Anne strolling Zoni Beach on Culebra, Puerto Rico,
while dinner cooks aboard the SEA LADY.

Anne and her husband Ray Seiffert spend their winters in the Caribbean aboard their Peterson 44 and spend their summers in their cottage on Griswold Island, Connecticut – where they also have a solar oven.

More from this website
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