Farm to Fork Challenge! Tomato and Okra Stew

This weekend Colleen, a wonderful friend from my cohort, and I took on a farm to fork challenge with the most beautiful tomatoes and okra from Colleen's friend Becca's farm.  The vegetables were so incredibly fresh and delicious, so Colleen and I wanted to do something pretty simple that would let them shine.  The combination of tomatoes and okra made us think of gumbo, and we used a gumbo recipe as a very (very) loose base, but this is definitely more of a light, brothy, summery stew than a traditional gumbo and I'm sure my friends from Louisiana would be very upset if I called this a gumbo.  Neither Colleen nor I had cooked with raw okra before so we dove in headfirst and hoped for the best.

We started by dicing the tomatoes and half of a large onion and slicing the okra into small rounds, discarding the stem and the tip.  Then we sautéed the onions until they were almost translucent and added two cloves of crushed garlic and the sliced okra.  Season with salt and pepper.  Many people say they don't like okra because it's slimy and this is true if you don't cook it long enough.  Colleen and I were legitimately concerned when the okra started emitting gooey, gelatinous strands and stuck together (see below).  Our recipe said to cook the okra for 10-12 minutes or until all of the slime is gone so we forged ahead and probably cooked them just a little bit longer than that until they looked normal and slime-free again.  

Once the okra has cooked through add the tomatoes and season them with salt and pepper.  Allow the tomatoes to cook down for a few minutes before adding water, vegetable stock, or seafood stock.  You can make your own seafood stock if you buy shell-on shrimp and you have all the time in the world (i.e. you don't work in student affairs).  I found this recipe from my spirit animal, Ina Garten: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/seafood-stock-recipe.html.  If you use water add a little bit more salt and pepper.  Season liberally with tobacco sauce and bring to a simmer.  Once the stew comes to a simmer add the peeled, deveined, and seasoned shrimp and cook until they are just done and in the shape of a C (never and O).  Serve your stew over rice.

Quick side note on rice:  Many people find cooking rice challenging, but this simple method has never steered me wrong.  Use two cups of water for every one cup of white rice, this recipe can be increased infinitely - I made five cups of rice for a organization retreat and it still cooked perfectly.  Pour two cups of water into a small saucepan and add some salt and a tablespoon of butter.   Bring the water to a boil, add one cup of rice, reduce heat to a simmer (on an electric stove I've found that just above low is the best temperature) and cook for 22 minutes covered.  After 22 minutes uncover and fluff with a fork.  You can omit the salt and use any kind of broth.  If you're using brown rice read the package for directions because it will take significantly longer to cook.

Enjoy this recipe with friends and a cold beer like Colleen and I did - after a long summer internship it was great to be back in Athens with all the great people in my cohort!

Tomato and Okra Stew

Ingredients

• 5 roma or plum tomatoes
• 3 cups of sliced fresh okra
• Half of a large onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 cups of water or vegetable, or seafood stock
• Tabasco sauce, lots of it (or to taste)
• 1 lb. of raw shrimp, peeled, deveined, and seasoned with salt and pepper
• 2 cups of uncooked white rice
• 4 cups of water
• 2 tbsp. butter

Instructions

1. Dice onion and tomatoes and slice okra.
2. Sauté onion until translucent, add okra and crushed garlic and season with salt and pepper
3. Cook 10-12 minutes, or until all okra is no longer slimy
4. Add tomatoes and season with salt and pepper, cook for 3 minutes
5. In a separate pan bring water, butter and salt to a boil, add rice, reduce to a simmer, and cook covered for 22 minutes.
6. Add water or stock and tabasco sauce and bring to a simmer
7. Add raw shrimp and allow it to cook in the strew (about three minutes)
8. Serve over cooked rice.