There are many times that a cook plans a meal around what is available. For instance, when the garden bears eight or nine sad okra pods — like today. Not enough to fry or pickle, but add okra to tomatoes and you have a side dish that we love.

This is a most simple dish and full of fresh flavor. It’s also very healthy with only fresh vegetables, a little salt, and no added fat.

I canned tomatoes this year and have been anxious to try them out. These tomatoes came from the mountains of North Carolina. We picked a box of them up at a local curb market. This seemed an appropriate time to break out a quart of tomatoes and pare them with the fresh okra.

I began by cleaning the okra and washed it well. With a paring knife, I trimmed the sticky edges and any dark or weird spots. Then, I cut the okra pods into 1/2 to 3/4 inch long sections.

My 8” iron skillet came into play tonight. It’s old and heavy and often holds just enough for the two of us. The prepared okra was placed in the bottom of the skillet and most of my quart of canned tomatoes were poured in, bringing the liquid in the skillet to about 3/4 full. I didn’t want to run it over onto the cook top. Eventually, as the tomatoes and okra simmered down, I was able to add the whole quart of tomatoes. The tomatoes and okra were simmered just long enough for the okra to cook and become tender.

Once the okra was cooked, I tasted to correct the seasoning. Since the tomatoes had been salted when canned no additional salt was needed. It was perfect and wonderful.

That’s it! This dish took about 20 minutes and made about 4 cups of tomatoes and okra.

You could serve tomatoes and okra with red meat, chicken, lamb, pork chops or almost anything. Pour over biscuits, rice or cornbread. Use leftovers to make vegetable soup or gumbo. This is one of the most versatile side dishes I have come across, and it started with just a handful of sad okra.

Hope you try this. Please let me know if you do!

Buon Appetito!

Kim Orsini

Iron Maiden – Black Skillet Cooking