Roasted Okra

Roasted Okra

From another blog, I just found this on a web search for okra recipes during my search last weekend for what to do with the okra I picked up at the market. This one caught my eye, and since I liked last week's okra recipe so much, I wanted to try it this weekend.

about 1/2 pound of small, whole okra per person
salt to taste
pepper to taste
olive oil spray

First, start with the smallest okra you can find. Larger okra tends to be woody, which wouldn't work in this recipe.

Preheat the oven to 450 F. Spray a shallow baking dish with olive oil, add okra, and season to taste. Give the okra one quick (1/2 second) spray with olive oil, and put them into the oven. Bake, stirring every 5 minutes, until okra is browned on all sides, about 15 minutes. Serve hot out of the oven.

You can also jazz these up with spice blends such as garam masala, curry powder, chili powder, Creole seasonings, or jerk seasonings--whatever your taste demands. But simple salt and pepper is amazingly good and allows the fresh flavor of the okra to shine through.

RESULTS: This was fairly gross. It reminded me of why I never took to okra in North Carolina. All the slime and ooze that was dissolved into the stew last week came shining through when you leave the darn things whole and roast them. Seriously, unless you've had okra and know that you like to actually eat the slime, I would suggest only having okra in stew form, like in gumbo or something. Yech!