ISO: ISO Southerners - what do I do with my okra?! It is now...

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dawnnys

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10 inches long and starting to curl! Should I have harvested it when it was only 2-3 inches long (like I see in stores)? Would it be too tough now? And besides gumbo, what do you use this funny little green pod for? I don't like it deep-fried.

Also, someone please tell me again, why am I simmering my own tomato sauce for 2 hours when I can buy it for 96 cents at the grocery store?! (Kinda tongue-in-cheek, but besides knowing that it is full of healthy ingredients, what is the advantage?)

Thanks!

 
Sounds like they would make a great addition to a funky floral arrangement! just kidding - how bout

sauteeing a few of them to see if they are tough - if hey are not then you could prep and freeze them for future use. I never did like them myself, such an odd texture!

 
It's toast as someone else said.And do use it in a floral arrangement. And yes,

harvest when tiny, roll in egg wash, then flour and cornmeal and fry crisp.

Too long on the tomato sauce too.

 
Okra is usually woody by the time it grows this big(more)

The suggestion about the flower arrangement is probably the best right now.
I did have an old recipe for candied okra; but it uses very small pods.

 
A cajun wreath, the okra sprayed gold,some dry red peppers, garlic, and? craft fair here you come!

 
Simmering tomato sauce for two hours? Here is how I do mine.

Get a large sheet pan and cover with foil. Wash your toms, cherry, red, yellow, orange, whatever you have or can buy. Cut into same size chunks. Cherry, I leave whole. Throw onto sheet pan. Cut the top off a whole head of garlic, put in corner of pan with the toms. Drizzle all with a good EVOO, sprinkle with coarse salt and freshly gr. pepper. Put in 375 degree oven and roast. Put the pan in the oven so the garlic head is near the oven door. After 30 to 40 min. take the garlic out with tongs and set aside to cool. It should be squishy to the squeeze. Roast toms until they start to brown and the juice from them has mostly evaporated. Squeeze out all the garlic cloves into you food processor, dump in the tomatoes and whirl until smooth. You will have the most wonderful sauce or paste (depending on how much moisture the toms had) to use on everything calling for tomato sauce or pizza sauce. This is awesome. No need to peel the toms either because the food processor takes care of it. Freeze in those cute one cup Zip Lock plastic containers. I made so much of this sauce in 2003, that I did not have to make any for three years. I make it every week during the season with my own toms and the ones I get at the Farmer's market.
This morning, I prepped a sheet pan in less than 15 min. It is so fast and easy!

 
This sounds wonderful, Karen! My tomatoes were a disaster this year (new soggy garden)

but I know what I did wrong and next year I'll be happy to have this recipe.

 
Well around here they paint it up to look like Santa's face & beard....

after it dries. You MIGHT be able to salvage some of it if it doesn't feel dry and break apart when you cut it.

If you don't like it deep fried, you can do a sort of pan fry - still coat it with a flour/corn meal mixture and pan fry - it's softer and different. You can make 'fritters' out of it. It was in every batch of homemade soup my grandmother made - put it in any vegetable type soups or beef soups, not just gumbo. Stew it with tomatoes or by itself although I have to tell you, we almost NEVER had it that way except in commercial cafeterias because it does seem slimey most of the time when stewed. We would however put some in with butter beans (NOT LIMAS - sorry I'll arugue that they are NOT the same with anyone!!!!!!!!) or purple hull peas (we really didn't do tru black-eyed peas in Mississippi - we did purple hull black eyes and always from fresh or frozen - we never used dried beans that I can remember for anything.

 
This sounds very good. I used to simmer mine for much shorter, but it...

was suggested that I cook it longer to get a better concentration of flavors (she said SIX hours!). The roasting should speed things up a bit! Thanks.

 
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