Solar Chicken and Mussels in Garlic Sauce - Redoux

This is a repost of a recipe that has proven to be delicious and memorable every time I've cooked it and decided to share it with my newer followers whilst there was still some light, summer, days to come. It's a combination you'd never think of -- until you try it -- and, then, can't imagine why you never thought of it, in the first place. Have fun and get ready to bow to compliments.

Chicken and Mussels in Garlic Sauce Over Spaghetti Squash

Ha ha ha...I tricked my sister! Told her we were having the chicken and mussels over spaghetti squash and it wasn't until later that she realized what I said...but, she loves both squash and pasta, so all was well. Exclamations of "OMG!" and, "This belongs on Gordon Ramsay's show" --(she's tends to exaggerate in the throes of an eating frenzy) was proof enough that I had scored big with this original recipe. Normally a graceful slow diner, I knew I had to eat fast, if I wanted a second helping -- of my own dinner!  ...great result! So good, I've shared it with Prairie Story's Recipe Swap Thursday #32 (It's entry number 45, so check out the others, too!

The Story of a Busy Solar Cooking Day

From muffins to personal pizza to Chicken and Mussels in Garlic Sauce, (a brilliant array of beiges on yellow spaghetti squash), the solar oven was having quite a day, and I was enjoying some serious energy savings.  Since I wanted to cook the spaghetti squash at the same time as the chicken, I used a loaf pan and covered it tight with aluminum foil. 

Ingredients: 1 Tablespoon olive oil, 5-6 skinless chicken pieces, 1 Tablespoon butter, 1 Tablespoon flour, 1/3 cup Rice Vinegar, 1/4 teaspoon Soy Sauce, 1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1 Tablespoon minced garlic, 1-1/4 cups chicken stock. 2-3 dozen froze pre-shelled mussels. (Added at end of cooking period.) Spaghetti squash, whole.

Wash and dry chicken pieces, brown in olive oil over high heat.  Remove chicken to loaf pan. Deglaze skillet with Rice Vinegar, scraping dark bits from bottom of skillet; add butter and flour, stirring till smooth and starting to bubble; add minced garlic and let brown along with flour; add rest of ingredients, slowly, return to boil; pour over chicken.  For solar cooking, use SolarWear(tm) for easy placement and removal and cook at 225F for 3 hours; or, use your slow cooker for 4 hours or conventional oven for 2.5 - 3 hours. Here it is cooking in the solar oven and I've removed the cover (at bottom) so you can see the placement.

Dinner's almost ready. 

Just have to remove the bones and make the chicken pieces smaller so it will absorb all that luscious gravy!

Then, add the mussels that were defrosted and zapped in the microwave for about two minutes. Gently stir it all together; separate the spaghetti squash strands; and, serve! If you'd like more carbs with your meal, try pasta, rice, or other cooked grains as a base to sop up that nom-nom sauce.

Solar Energy Notes

Let's tally this day:  Muffins- 35 mins.; pizza - 35 mins.; squash and chicken - 3 hours = approx. 4.17 hours. That translates to roughly using 20,850 BTUs of conventional energy, oven or stovetop. (Don't know about you guys, but my electric company raises it's on-peak charges in the summer months from $3.73 to $5.02 per kw. I only used 7.68 kw from 6/1 to 6/17, and was billed at $25.11!) Solar energy - FREE!

You gotta love it.