Okra

Storage

Okra is highly perishable and stores best in a plastic container lined with a dry paper towel in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.

Freezing

Wash and trim the stem off the okra, the blanch whole in boiling water for 1 minute.  Plunge into an ice water bath to cool. Drain and pat dry with clean dish towels.  Freeze in quart-sized freezer bags.

Recipes

Fried Okra 

• Okra
• Cornmeal
• Flour
• Salt & Pepper
• Oil for Frying

Cook this dish once and you (any anyone you serve it to) will be an okra enthusiast for life.  Guaranteed!  Choose small okra as it tends to be more tender and less seedy.  Slice the okra into ½ inch rounds.  Toss it in a bowl with some flour and cornmeal, salt & pepper. The flour absorbs the okra’s slime and the cornmeal adds a nice rustic crunch.  Heat vegetable oil in a broad skillet and add the okra in a single layer.  Fry over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, then turn and fry the other side.  This is a tedious step and you must work quickly and methodically so that they don’t burn.  But the results are worth it: evenly browned, crispy, delicious okra with only the faintest hint of its trademark viscous texture.  (You can shortcut all the individual turning by just shaking them around in the pan, but the result will be less even).  I find the deep green taste to be similar to that of green beans, but richer and sweeter.