I love okra! I especially love it in soups, stews and gumbos (see my recipes here for those winter treats.) And okra is like squash - if it's not as big as you want it to be, come back in 15 minutes! If you skip a day harvesting it, you will have lethal weapons the next day. The very best okra is cooked the day it's picked - hard to find and well worth growing your own!
Now.... okra ain't purdy, and I'm not sure people outside the South eat it.... but this is the best way to cook it I've found. Take 5 minutes start to finish.
INGREDIENTS:
8-10 2"-3" pods per person
Kosher salt
cayenne pepper
butter
oil
DIRECTIONS:
Cut pods early in the morning, when they are 2-3" long... yep - tiny and tender. I cook 8-10 pods per person (and more for me)
Wash and wrap in a damp paper towel until time to cook. I find refrigerating it makes it soft.
For 2-3 servings, grab a non-stick frying pan and add a TBSP of butter and a TBSP of oil. Add a shake or two of kosher salt and a couple of shakes of cayenne pepper.
Place pan on medium high heat. While this is heating up (and do NOT let the butter brown) pat okra completely dry and cut off the stem end just below the cap. When the oil is hot and the butter has melted, plop the pods in. As they start to cook, roll 'em around with a spatula. The plan is to just let them begin to brown, so keep 'em moving for 2-3 minutes. Don't 'fry' them - this is a quick saute` and the pods are already tender. And if you cook them too long they get mushy.
Dump them out on 2-3 layers of paper towels to remove the oil - blot gently.
Serve and...
ENJOY!
P.S. Okra has high levels of vitamin A, B vitamins (B1, B2, B6), and vitamin C, and traces of zinc and calcium
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