Okra’s On!

The okra in our garden came in nicely.

 

Really the best way to enjoy fresh okra is to fry it. Truly, we don’t do a lot of frying, but okra is the exception.

The first batch, we cooked with egg/milk and cornmeal. Almost all the batter fell off the okra in the hot fat. Disappointing.

So the next time we tried McCormick’s Beer Batter Mix.  YUM!

We have blanched and frozen quarts and quarts of okra, now.

As the okra kept coming in and we had to pick a “mess” every other day, I was starting to look for some other ways to cook it up. One website alone listed over 360 recipes for okra. That took a while to wade through. One recipe, though, made me laugh. We could deal with two things at a time.

Squirrel Gumbo

3 -(up to) 4 Squirrels; cleaned
1 Chicken
1 1/2 -(up to) 2 c Bell pepper; chopped
1 1/2 -(up to) 2 c Celery; chopped
1 qt Stewed tomatoes
1 can (small) tomato sauce
2 c Canned okra
2 -(up to) 3 T Creole gumbo file; or to taste
3/4 c Dark roux

Pressure cook and debone squirrels and chicken. Save the broth. To boiling broth, add bell pepper, celery, onion, tomatoes and tomato sauce. Make roux (using oil and flour in equal parts, in a heavy skillet brown roux) and add to the above mixture, stirring until well blended. Cook until vegetables are tender. Add meat and okra. Season to taste. You may also want to add hot sauce to taste. Simmer for 15 minutes. Just before serving or when serving, add file‚ to taste. Serve over rice. Serves 15 to 20.

8^)

So, that one is a joke because we have had too, too many squirrels in our yard.

One night when we needed to eat more okra, I just sliced it up and threw it in a pot with a can of diced tomatoes, some chopped onion, banana peppers and the last ear of corn from our garden, a little garlic powder and a few splashes of hot sauce. It was pretty good.

To finish it up another night, we reheated it and added it to our usual vegetarian-style taco salad, which while it contains no meat, does have refried beans in it. It was good, too.

Next time, I think I want to try putting some in taco shells.