Roasted Okra

Okra is a wonderful veggie. If you've never had good fried okra, your life is less for the experience. In soups and stews, okra is a fantastic thickener that's still a veggie. Okra is a great, great summer veggie for the South, don't get me wrong.

There's only one problem: when cooked the wrong way, okra is slimy. REALLY slimy. I've read bits where it gets compared to cooked mucus. Which, let's face it is gross, but there is a key thing here that needs to be said: the South loves okra because it's tasty. As in, it's very easy to cook okra in a way that isn't slimy, and isn't gross, and tastes amazing and summer-y and really really good.

This is one way to do okra right.

Before the recipe, some criteria. When you buy okra, buy the shortest, smallest pods possible. Large okra are bad, because they get woody. So try to buy the smallest okra you can. Also, before you cook your okra, rinse it first. Not because it will affect the slime factor, but because it often is planted in fields that border cotton or corn or soy that get sprayed with other pesticides, so it never hurts to rinse those off. Remember: small okra, and rinse the okra. 


Roasted Okra

1 or 1 1/2 lbs okra (Smallest you can find, freshest you can find)
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 400F.

Rinse your okra, then cut the stem end off all okra. Slice the okra pods in half vertically down the middle to expose the seeds on both sides, and place okra in a medium mixing bowl. THIS IS KEY: if the okra pods are longer than 2 inches, slice the pods into shorter parts before slicing them down the middle. This helps the longer pods, which are potentially woody, roast more effectively.

Once you've got the okra sliced into no longer than 2 1/2 inch bits and chucked into a medium mixing bowl, pour the tbsp of olive oil over the whole thing. Mix until all the okra is oiled (trust me, a bit of oil goes a long way. Just stir it around a bit, and 1 tbsp will coat all that okra fine).

Cover a baking sheet with tin foil for easy cleanup, then spray the tinfoil with non-stick baking spray. Spread the okra on the tray evenly, doesn't matter whether it's the inner or the outer side facing up.. Sprinkle salt and pepper over okra to season gently. DO NO OVER-SALT, you don't want your salt to drown out the taste of the okra itself.

Place baking sheet in oven and roast okra for 15-20 minutes. Stir/turn the okra halfway through. Serve immediately.

Serves: 3