Seasonal Sensation: Okra & Tomato stew

Once again, I am on my soap box about the importance of transforming your children into veggie eaters, and how you can use the seasons to make the job a little easier. Summer is a great season for okra and tomatoes, but getting children (or even adults) to like okra can be sticky (pun intended). Tips: Take fresh okra and freeze it (raw) for a couple of hours before using it. Roasting or grilling it also seems to cut back on the sticky goo that tends to turn people off from this green wonder. If you can't beat the goo, use it! Tossing okra into soups and stews can help add body to the broth because the okra goo mixes in and thickens it slightly. Below is a dish I grew up eating, and it is certainly a southern classic. It can be made vegetarian or not, and is fairly inexpensive. It can be a side dish, or you can make it a full on main course soup (see notes at the bottom). Whatever you do, enjoy the nutritious bounties of summer with okra and tomatoes!

Okra and Tomato Stew (serves about 4)

2 T olive oil (or 4 slices of bacon, chopped)
2 cups sliced (rounds) okra (fresh or frozen)
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can/15 oz diced tomatoes with juice
Salt and black pepper


Directions

1. In a large pot, warm oil over med-high heat. If using bacon, sautee the bacon until most of the fat is rendered, then remove the pieces from the pot (the bacon should be brown, but not burned. Now you have a little snack!). Add onions and a pinch of salt. Sautee the onions until translucent.
2. Add the garlic, okra and two pinches of salt. You will start to see the okra release it's sticky goo, and that's okay. It will be useful later! Sautee everything for about a minute, making sure the okra goo doesn't start to burn to the pot.
3. Add the tomatoes with their juice and scrape the bottom of the pot to dislodge any okra goo that may have stuck. Add a couple of pinches of salt and about a 1/2 t black pepper (or more to your taste). Let simmer for 10 minutes. Serve warm. If you'd like (and if you didn't eat all of it), you can garnish with the little bacon bits you made earlier.

NOTES:

To make this more of a main dish entree, you can add cooked, cubed chicken at the end and let it warm through in the broth, or follow the first step, then add raw chicken during the second step. Make sure the heat is stil med-high so you can get just a little sear on the chicken. Chicken thighs would be a great, economical cut to use, and would impart tons of flavor. Follow the rest of the directions, but add another 5 minutes onto the simmer time to make sure the chicken is cooked through.

To make this more of a soup, you can add 2 cups of either chicken stock, tomato juice or water when you add the tomatoes.

This dish is great with rice (fake or real). You can also add a squeeze of lemon juice a the end before eating to brighten everything.

For a more italian style dish, add 1 t dried basil and 1 t dried parsley when you add the tomatoes. They add a lovely sweet herbal note. If you're adding the herbs, I would suggest adding at least 1/2 cup-1 cup of water, chicken stock or tomato juice.

Culinary Elements: Color & Variety

When composing a meal, one must think about how the food will actually look on the plate. People eat with their eyes before they ever taste with their mouth. Meal planning means making sure you have plenty of variety in textures, colors, flavors and temperatures. I tend to not enjoy cold foods, so it is certainly a struggle for me to get multiple temperatures in the same meal (safely). At any rate, an extremely hearty meal that certainly pays homage to my southern roots, also provides a lovely example of the elements color and variety.

You are looking at dry rub, baby back ribs, french red onion and cabbage soup and roasted okra. Very tasty, low car, and quite healthy, as long as you watch the sodium in the rub and soup. I am not putting the recipe for the rub, since I think that totally depends on what your tastes are, but I will include the recipe for the soup and okra.

French Onion and Cabbage Soup:

1 med-large onion (any color, in the picture, I use red for the color)
3-4 cups chopped cabbage (red or green, again, I chose red)
3 cups chicken broth or water
2 cloves garlic, minced
Olive Oil
1-2 T butter
salt and pepper

On the stove top, turn the heat to med and warm the pot (without the oil). Halve, then slice the onion into half moons. Add enough oil to the heated pan to coat the bottom (roughly a 1/4 cup),the butter, then add the onions. Sprinkle a couple of pinches of salt over the onions to help begin the cramalization process. Keep the heat at low, and stir the onions until they are all coated in oil. Let the onions cook until brown (not burned) completely. This could take anywhere from 7 to 12 minutes, make sure you don't go too far! Toss in the cabbage and garlic. Stir well, and sprinkle with another couple of pinches of salt. When the cabbage begins to wilt, delgaze the pan with the water or chicken broth, scraping the bottom. Add a few dashes of pepper, give it one final stir then let it simmer for 15 minutes. Taste your broth, if it needs more salt, add it at this point and let it simmer for a couple of minutes further. If it is to your liking, you are ready to serve!

Roasted Okra

1 lb raw, whole okra
3 T seasoned salt (See below for my version)
Olive oil

Preheat oven to 450

Coat okra in oil, then sprinkle with seasoning. Place in pan (preferably on baking sheet) in a single layer, Roast until it starts to brown at the edges. Allow it to cool for at least 5 minutes before serving. Cooking it this way helps eliminate the gooey, sticky liquid most people associate with okra.

Seasoned Salt

1 T kosher salt
1 T smoked paprika
1 T garlic powder
2 t onion powder
2 t ground black pepper

Mix together and store in an airtight container. Great on chicken, pork and veggies. For steak seasoning, omit paprika and use course ground black pepper.