EEE Cooks: Stewed Okra and Tomatoes (Recipe)

Okra and tomatoes are two abundant summer crops. We combine them tonight in a “stew”. We cut the okra into sections to allow some of the thick juices to flavor the sauté, but we could have also left the pods whole. For simplicity, we neither peel nor seed the tomatoes. Any fresh herbs go well here—rosemary and lemon thyme in particular pair well with fish, seafood, and chicken. We like to serve the stew over grits or polenta to soak up the juices, but bread or rice would be nice too.

We start by heating a large sauté pan over medium low heat. We quarter the onion and discard the peel. The onion pieces are sliced thinly, yielding 1½ cups. We add the oil and the onion to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, while we prepare the rest of the ingredients.

We smash the garlic cloves with the side of our knife, carefully, and discard the peels. We sprinkle with coarse salt and mince. The cherry tomatoes are cored and quartered, yielding 2 cups. At this time, the onion is nicely softened so we add the garlic and cook for a minute until fragrant. Then we stir in the tomatoes and add more salt and some freshly ground black pepper.

While the tomatoes break down, we trim the okra, removing the stem end, and cut the larger pods in half crosswise. We add these to the pan along with the lemon thyme and rosemary. We increase the heat to medium, add the broth, and bring to a boil. We lower the heat, cover partially, and cook for about 10 minutes until the okra is very tender and the liquid has thickened.

We taste for seasoning and add the lemon.

Stewed Okra and Tomatoes

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