What's cooking? part 4

i want answers re: un-slimy okra. did they just rinse it or something??

i have no idea! i should cook more okra.

probably the way it was cooked. Was it the young small pods? They are a lot less slimy.

i had chard recently and figured out that we have it in nz - but we call it silverbeet

it was like zero slimy, and i have no idea if they were small and young, as i am from the cold north, and unfamiliar with okra. all i know is that it was delicious

the guy told me to take an extra bunch free bc he still had a bunch left :)
xpost

re: okra - the young ones are smaller around than a person's little finger, and the bigger ones can be bigger around than a person's thumb. I know the dry curry way of cooking it, which is sort of like a stir-fry, is really not slimy. Also, using fresh okra is much much less slimy than using frozen.

ah that must be it. they were small, and i think it was stir fried-ish

i just put the whole thing in the oven:

layer of fried potato slices covered in broccoli, marinated red caps, sauteed onion and spinach, diced grilled chicken, a little bit of cheese. i used 9 eggs but it's a big pan so the egg is only about 1/4" thick, while all the stuff is about 2" high

Also, using fresh okra is much much less slimy than using frozen.

Yes, this is key. And the fewer cuts, the less mucilage, so look for small pods that you can just trim the stem and cut in half. For fried okra, the cornmeal sort of seals in the mucilage at the start. Obv., some people don't mind the slime, and cook a few pods whole in with a pot of blackeyed peas; and then there's GUMBO.

xposties

mmmmmmm okra

success!!!

Excellent!

i am inspired! i think i am going to slice potatoes for the crust of my little thingy and then it will be a multicolored potato crunch on the bottom, with zucchini and onions and chard and maybe a tiny bit of cheese with egg poured over and then bake it. i am worried about potatoes sticking to the pan, though. hmm. does this seem too risky?

i greased my pan with plenty of butter, as per jaq's instructions, and they didn't stick a bit

i greased mine with olive oil. it is in the oven now. the potatoes are slow cooking, i'm afraid it will stick because i'm not actually using the right kind of pan. but it looks pretty and i think it will taste yum!

it came out delicious! minimal sticking (mostly egg, actually). if i do it again i will use more chard and maybe bake longer (it baked at least 45 min probably). the top potatoes were drying out mid-cooking, so i sprayed a little pam on top for moisture (maybe this is sacrelig, but it worked).

i took some pictures because these potatoes are so pretty:
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9375.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9378.jpg
http://i401.photobucket.com/albums/pp95/tza/102_9382.jpg

you could try par-boiling the spuds first, that way they won't take so long in the oven?

it does look tasty! i LOVE potatoes more than any other food, i think

yeah i think definitely pre-cooking the potatoes in some way. also i would maybe leave out the soy milk (i didn't use too much, but i would probably have preferred a bit firmer texture). or add another egg (only had 3 in the fridge!).

yeah my 9 eggs were not enough for my huge dish of... stuff

also i made a little salad of cherry tomatoes, garlic, balsamic, and basil to go with. yum.

That looks gorgeous - those purple potatoes look like beets!

roasted tomatillo salsa tonight! so easy and amazingly good. i ate it with eggs, soft corn tortillas, black beans, tomatoes, and thick yogurt.

also can i just say i am all inspired after the julia child movie and wore my old school blue and white nieman marcus apron with butterfly appliqué (gotten from basement of deceased wealthy great aunt's stuff - a foodie who did greenbrier culinary classes for fun). i felt super crafty :)

Got conned into making tiramisu. Can't be doing with it.

One fun thing: baby figs wrapped with serrano ham, sprinkle a little goats cheese on top then give it a couple of seconds with a blowtorch/v. hot grill

posole verde with roasted pork tenderloin
yum

in retrospect i would have precooked the posole because it took TWO HOURS even after soaking all night and most of the day. still though, it tasted great.

anyone have a dry curry okra recipe? got some okra today and i want to try this!

Yeah, I have one around here somewhere, I'll dig it out sometime this morning.

OK, this is what I found on the internets a few years ago minus my adjustments.

1 lb. okra
1 big tomato, diced
2 med. onions, diced
4 green chilies, chopped (adjust to taste)
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/3 tsp ground cumin
2/3 tsp garam masala
2 Tbsp lemon juice
3 bunches of cilantro
3 Tbsp veg. oil
salt to taste

Trim the stems from the (washed, dried) okra and cut it into 1" lengths. Over medium heat, stir-fry onions, chilies, spices and salt until the onions are soft and golden. Add okra, stir-fry for approx. 15 minutes until they're cooked through but still fairly firm. Add the tomato and lemon juice and stir-fry for another minute or two, just long enough for the tomato to break down a little. Turn off heat and sprinkle with cilantro.

My variations: I don't do cilantro, so that got left out. Two medium onions seems like a bit much for 1 lb. of okra, so I use one med-large onion. The recipe doesn't specify what kind of chilies but I assume they're for heat, so I usually wind up using a spoonful of sambal oelek.

and after all that it still has okra in it :(

oh okay i see you went over the mucilage issue upthread apologies

i was wondering why there wasn't a running cooking thread on ilx but then i realised there probably was one on the cooking board but i think i might start one on ile because i think a lot of people don't look at this board which is a shame

gahhh no just tell them to come post here!

oh this reminds that i've been meaning to post here: i need recipes, specifically 'bake' recipes, i.e. pasta bakes, rice bakes, potato bakes, that kind of thing. anyone got suggestions?

i have to remember to buy garam masala and some chiles so i can do the okra

you guys i just picked 25 lbs of tomatoes off my vines waht do i DOOOOOOOOO

(/braggin)

I'm going to roast a bunch of them right now and make puree, for one thing.

wanttt

I should take the best 5# of these down to the only nice restaurant in town and say "how would you like to have a source for these, and plenty of basil, next year for caprese salads you can mark up about 1000%?"

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v296/WilliamCrump63/tomatoes090509.jpg

gorgeous!!

made a basmati pilaf with green beans and tomatoes earlier this week, bout to make it again right now

WmC yr tomatoes are the bomb

wanttt

― tehresa, Saturday, September 5, 2009 3:37 PM

Thanks! The smaller bowl was Paul Robesons and underneath them, 3-4 Amish Pastes -- a coreless oxheart-shaped tomato. All those are in the oven now, roasting. The bigger bowl is all Boxcar Willies, a really beautiful globe tomato that is my main tomato every year.

Wish you guys were here to get some -- I've been giving away about 5 lbs a day to neighbors. I guess I'll have a tomato sandwich for dinner.

the gate vegetarian cookbook says that you ought to make sure you fry yr okra before whatever else you do with it to de-goopify it

er "Other people soak them for a few hours in water acidulated with lemon juice or vinegar. Some people make the mistake of thinking that the longe you cook okra the less sticky it will seem, but without either preliminary frying or soaking it just goes on getting stickier as you cook it."

this has a recipe for pickled okra. hmmmm

Pickled okra is fantastic, esp with a hot chili or two in each jar. I always keep some in the fridge.