There’s the Okra Strut in South Carolina (the picture above is from the Strut) and then there’s Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, the Fighting Okras (no one will ever ask them to change their mascot because it’s politically incorrect).
But what I want to talk about here is eating okra. Okra has been a small but recurrent theme on this blog. After all, I’d be willing to bet that this is the only blog in history that published a recipe for courtbullion with okra in it. And we’ve recommended a plate lunch place with a Greek treatment of okra. We’ve even argued in comments about whether a perfectly good chicken and sausage gumbo recipe wasn’t gumbo at all because it lacked okra (although I will add here in my defense that a Cajun-born chef who once cooked for the Brennans and has a decent reputation takes a similar view of things). The blog recipe page even includes a recipe for fried okra.
Well, for about three weeks now the okra has been in at the farmers market. Those blasted growers are picking it too big, but you can work your way through the itchy piles of hot-dog-sized okra and find the small ones no bigger than your little finger or so. This year the only folks presenting okra seem to be focused on pretty standard varieties, with none of the unusual colors and shapes I’ve seen here in years past.
I have a vivid memory of my children getting antsy while I was picking through trying to find the best and smallest okra to take home.
Before getting to my recipes, I want to observe that southerners are so used to thinking of okra as “ours,” we don’t look elsewhere for okra recipes. A couple of my favorites, though are Indian (I’ve never had a bad Indian okra dish); there’s a fried okra with garam masala in Madhur Jaffrey’s vegetarian cookbook that is wonderful. Here’s a page with some world-wide okra recipes.
Anyhow, here’s a couple of quick ways to do okra.
Steamed okra with chives
This recipe was the result of experimenting to see if I could produce “slime free” okra in response to non-southerner complaints. The funny thing is that when I achieved it, my kids (early grade school aged) looked up and said “where’s the sauce?” because that’s what they thought the buttery goo from the boiled okra was.
2/3 pound or so of okra pods the size of your finger, trimmed
1 or so tbs of butter
1 tbs or so chopped fresh chives (garlic chives are the best here)
1 tbs or so white wine or sherry vinegar
sea salt and pepper to taste
1. I find one of those steamers that’s like a double boiler works absolute best for this. Put a couple inches of water in the bottom part, bring to a boil covered with the steamer set in it, salt the water, and put in the okra. Cook a few minutes till just tender
2. Meanwhile, jut barely melt the butter (this is one of the few things I use a microwave for), then add the chives and vinegar and mix well. When the okra is done, toss with the butter/chives, then add some pepper and finish with sea salt.
okra and tomatoes
Most versions of this I pretty well dislike. I had it once at Dooky Chase, and loved that version, because of the standard New Orleans heavy arm with the peppers and because of the bits of ham and something cooked enough to caramelize. I got home and one night just cooked this version by ear.
1/2 onion, chopped
2 tbs butter
2 tomatoes, seeded & roughly chopped
4 oz seasoning ham roughly chopped (about a 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup or so tomato sauce
black pepper to taste (lots)
white pepper to taste (some)
cayenne to taste (a little)
paprika. I don’t know, 1/2 tsp?
a smidgen of dried oregano (1/4 tsp?)
a similar amount of dried basil
chicken stock (you can use water in a pinch)
about a pound of okra (the amount I usually buy to feed the family. I could have used
more), sliced about 1/2 slices
1. Melt the butter and cook the onions in it till translucent. Put in the ham in with them and cook till the ham starts to brown. Add the spices and cook a bit
2. Add the tomatoes and cook a bit, then add the tomato sauce and cook a bit.
3. Stir in the okra and cook a bit at a fast simmer. Now cook about 45 minutes adding up to a 2/3 cup of chicken stock, perhaps slightly more until done.
4. Taste occasionally to get the seasoning balance right.
Update: South was North and isn’t any more, as noted in comments. Some of the quantities (the okra, particularly) on the okra-tomato dish were updated after I cooked it again tonght).
Hurray! Okra recipes! the Strut!
Good goin’, NMC. I’m sittin’ here with a migraine but this brings me back.
Have you ever been to Irmo’s Okra Strut? I bumbled into it quite by accident one crisp fall weekend years ago — just happened to be driving through on the right weekend. Made me quite the local celebrity when I got home and told the tales, but I wore out my Okra Strut T-shirt long ago, dang it.
Never been to it. I first became aware of it from Jane and Micheal Stern’s book Amazing America
no pickled okra recipe?
btw, my New Orleans raised Mama used to sometimes put filé gumbo (which I think comes from sassafras) in hers instead of okra and still called it gumbo.
Hmmmmm, pickled okra.
I love pickled okra with pizza. One piece of pickled okra for each piece of pizza.
Somwhere around here (I ain’t found it yet) I have a great recipe (courtesy of Justin Wilson) for okra and tomatoes. It is gooood, I’ll guarrr-un-tee!
I’m a pickle eater but don’t do much pickling myself.
Personally, I love pickled okra in a bloody mary.
OKRA & TOMATOES
This is a Justin Wilson recipe.
6 slices of bacon, chopped
2 medium onions, chopped
1 medium clove of garlic
Saute the above in olive oil for approx. 10 minutes.
2 lbs. okra, chopped
4 medium tomatoes, cut into 6-8 pieces each
1 cup of white wine
1/2 teaspoon Tabasco
1 Tblspoon Lea & Perrins worchestershire sauce
2 teaspoons salt (or salt to taste)
After sauting the bacon, onions, and garlic in olive oil for approx. 10 minutes, add everything else and cook until okra is tender. Serves 8.
This recipe is pretty simple and is really good.
Okra fanatic here. Ever tried just clipping off the stem end, washing and draining the pods..then tossing them whole into a pan of hot olive oil. Fry until crisp and a bit dark, then sprinkle with salt. Just the easiest and best way to cook fried okra. Hummmm….you have flung a carving on me, as Justin used to say.
that would be Irmo, South Carolina
I’m just a drive-by daily reader…don’t do no blogging,(till now) but I’ve got to share this recipe for grilled okra. Even okra haters are often turned by this. Take tender whole okra pods and toss with a light coat of olive oil and seasoning salt or just plain salt and pepper and then plop ‘em on the grill. Cook just long enough to warm up and get some grill marks…you’ll love it
phbarrsc is correct and I will correct the post accordingly.
I got a recipe for bloody mary shrimp appetizer I need to try; I’m gonna try it this week with some pickled okra perched on the side.
Some cooking notes on the okra tomato recipe:
use a pound of okra for that much other ingredients. I’ve updated the recipe accordingly. And I had a tomato sauce I’d made by roasting plum tomatoes with garlic (both local) and thyme (from my yard) with some olive oil and black pepper and sea salt and used that.
I served it with lady peas with pepper catsup (a very old-fashioned, prob. 19thC recipe I’ve been sworn not to share), and chicken breasts grilled after marinating in rosemary, mustard, sherry vinegar, and olive oil. It worked out fine.
pr1954, you’re so right. Check out Flowahy Cookin’ and you’ll see that I like mine with some lemon juice in the marinade.
catty, I’m gonna try that!
Observer and NMC, not sure I’d've thought about pizza, but that’s worth a try, and agreed on the Bloody Mary trick.
One of these days I’m gonna get in and reorganize Flowahy Cookin’, and when I do, okra will need its own subsection. phbarrsc, got one/some to throw in there?
NMC, I’m in love with those “slimeless okras”. I just cooked a little first time out because I wasn’t sure how I’d like it…man, wish I had cooked more. Thanks for the tip.