Gah! Yes I know, it has been quite too long since my last post and I’m sad that I went an entire month of August without any posts! But today I am back at it with some current happenings going on. I’m hoping to catch up from summer activities to be able to share on here. But in the meantime, I wanted to share my recent trip to the farmer’s market as well as a yummy little Pinterest recipe to use with the okra I picked up.
Below is a picture of me and my interns that are currently doing their community rotation with me. We decided it would be fun to have a table set up at our campus farmer’s market to share recipes featuring the seasonal produce available at the market. My interns also created a nifty Pinterest account for folks to follow in they didn’t feel like being bogged down with paper recipes. Don’t they look cheery? 🙂
The great thing about the campus farmer’s market is that we have folks that drive in, ride their bike in, or walk in from after class.
Many of the vendors are featured at our local restaurants in Tuscaloosa, including Epiphany Cafe (I will have a post on them coming up soon!) which boasts a Farm to Fork concept. Market goers can purchase meats, veggies, handmade soaps, cheeses, baked goods, and a variety of other goodies 🙂
At my most recent trip to the Farmer’s market, I picked up okra (yum), tomatoes (red and green), basil, sweet potatoes, and a watermelon. I absolutely love okra but always forget to buy it in season and make something yummy out of it. I did a pinterest search (I LOVE the search feature on pinterest BTW) for okra and tomato recipes and found a Sauteed Okra with Heirloom Tomatoes and Bacon (YES BACON) recipe from the Martha Stewart website. Apparently the original recipe came from Scott Peacock and Edna Lewis in their cookbook, “The Gift of Southern Cooking” which already screams delicious from its title. The original recipe from Martha’s website can be found here.
Sauteed Okra with Heirloom Tomatoes and Bacon
Ingredients
5 slices bacon
1 pound (next time I’d go with 1.5 to 2lbs) okra, washed, trimmed, and sliced about 1/2 inch thick
1 large sweet onion cut into 1/3 inch wedges
coarse salt
freshly ground black pepper
4 medium heirloom tomatoes, cut into 1/2 inch wedges
Directions
In a large, skilley, cook bacon over low heat until crisp and fat is rendered. Remove bacon and set aside. Next add okra to skillet (yes in the remaining bacon grease— everything in moderation, right?) and cook, stirring frequently, over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes. Add onion wedges, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes and reduce heat to low. Continue cooking, partially covered, until tomatoes are just heated through, 3 to 4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Crumble bacon slices over tomatoes; serve warm.
Oh okra, I truly believe you are one of my favorites.
Chopping up those delicious tomatoes!
Can see why I’d like to double the recipe on the okra next time? Just not enough 🙂
Delicious sweet onion
Adding those wonderful tomatoes
And finishing it off with some crumbled bacon. YUM.
And ta-da! It was very yummy. If you are weird about the texture of your onions, you may want to cook them a little longer prior to adding your tomatoes. I did add just a teeny tiny dash of garlic powder while sauteing the okra that I did not mention in the previous recipe instruction. I would love for you to share YOUR favorite okra recipes— when I pick up okra again this week I think I’ll be making some bhindi masala— WEE!
