Fresh Tart

My favorite vegetable these days is...okra.  It all started last year, when I discovered a recipe for a saute of okra with bacon, tomatoes, and sweet onion, as I hungrily perused the wonderful The Gift of Southern Cooking cookbook.  Being a Northerner and all, my only previous experience with okra was, well, slimy and uninteresting.  But I could see in the book's pic that a quick saute, allowing the okra to even crisp a bit, eliminated the slime factor and achieved deliciousness.  And it most definitely does, oh yes.  The crispy bacon makes the dish insanely good - you'll be glad to know that a little goes a long way.  I confess I didn't have the tomatoes last night, but the dish is absolutely delicious with just okra and onions.  Or even just okra, which is how I often prepare it to have alongside quick chicken gumbo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I would have happily tucked into a pan of okra and called it dinner, the rest of the family?  Um, no.  So I also sauteed some boneless thin-cut pork chops (sprinkled with thyme and salt first) and made a quick little pan sauce with a splash of chicken broth, finished with a tablespoon each of black cherry jam and Dijon mustard.  Polenta (grits) would have been the crowning touch, but no one else is a fan, so I boiled and drained a few red potatoes, lightly crushed them, and finished them with a very brief saute in a bit of butter, just on one side to add a little crispness.  Finished with a shower of parsley, they're tasty and pretty, in a jumbled, deconstructed, potato-y sort of way.  Even a little - dare I say - Springy?  Just a little, mind you, wouldn't want to go too far and get our hopes up or anything...

Ah, back to reality. (Small sigh, wry smile...) And back to cooking for the fam! Tonight, I'm making a typical make-your-own Wild Wednesday dish, in this case chicken noodle soup. The kids take theirs light on the chicken (and veggies), heavy on the noodle. We adults reverse the ratio. Either way, a good chicken stock makes the dish. I tried a new version (I made it yesterday, when I had time, vs. today, when I don't), the Miss Edna Louis recipe from The Gift of Southern Cooking. Result? Incredible, very rich and chicken-y, a perfect chicken soup base. Easy too (all you need is a good, heavy knife for hacking apart the chicken; recipe posted in comments, below).

For the veggies, I just saute a diced mixture of whatever sounds good, in a little butter. Tonight, for instance, I'm thinking mushrooms, garlic, leeks, okra, carrots, fennel. Other tasty options could include asparagus, celery, tomatoes, zucchini...you get the picture. For chicken, I pull apart a deli rotisserie chicken (the chicken from making stock is totally spent and flavorless). Canned (rinsed) navy or canellini beans can be a nice addition. Grated gruyere cheese is lovely too. For noodles, just plain ol' egg noodles fit the bill. To assemble, I line it all up buffet style and everyone builds their own bowl. Few grinds of black pepper, crusty bread, perhaps a salad... Everyone's happy, everyone's full, good stuff.

I'll confess, there were some pretty big whoops around the TV last night when the New York Giants pulled off their upset Super Bowl victory. John's from NYC, so you know, a no-brainer for him... My stepdaughter and I were just a teensy bit swayed by the Tom Brady Cuteness factor, but I was glad for such an exciting game and to see John and Nathan so jazzed. Homemade pizza and a win, sheesh, the Super Bowl was actually fun this year, I can't remember the last time I thought that! (As in, never?)

Tonight, it's all quiet again; in fact I dined solo, so (naturally) took the opportunity to whip up a few of my favorite tasties - particularly those that no one else in the fam particularly enjoys...

I've been flipping through a gorgeous new cookbook, The Gift of Southern Cooking, by Edna Lewis and Scott Peacock, so was inspired to whip up some grits (I often make grits/polenta when I'm cooking just for myself) to enjoy alongside a simple saute of okra, tomatoes, onion, and a bit of bacon (recipe posted in comments, below). Deeeelicious. Keep this dish in mind this summer, when there are both just-picked okra and perfectly ripe tomatoes at the farmer's market. Fresh sweet corn would be a delicious addition. Or perhaps that's gilding the lily - you decide. The dish is completely successful in the winter as well - just choose grape cherry tomatoes (sweet even in the winter), and unblemished, plump okra (skip if they're shriveled).

This Yankee lurves me some okra. And grits. And cracklins, biscuits, fried chicken, braised greens, pork in every iteration, black-eyed peas, sweet iced tea, and most likely crayfish, too, if I had access. Yeeeeehaw!