Okra, the Greek way!

Growing up in South Carolina, my mother loved okra, but I couldn’t stand the sight of it! However, when Yiayia made it in Greece braised in tomatoes and served with home fried potatoes and a chunk of feta, I loved it! Then my mother-in-law made it with roasted chicken -and it was even better. Both had used frozen okra. When I lived on Skiathos, I had fresh okra with chicken and it was the best ever– really amazing! And the chef, Kyria Katina who had the taverna next door to where we lived, taught me how to prepare the fresh okra (her parents were from Asia Minor —some of the best cooks I have ever met have Anatolian roots).

Preparing fresh okra:   
This is so that it is creamy inside but not slimy on the outside! Cut the tops off okra in conical fashion, dip the cut cone-like tops in salt and place in a metal baking pan, covered in red wine vinegar. If it is sunny out, leave in the sun for 1-2 hours. If it is cloudy, put in the oven at the very lowest temperature–120F or 150F. Finally, rinse and strain.

Cooking the okra:
Chop red onions, salt  and sauté in EVOO (like EVGE) for about 5-7 minutes. Add the prepared okra and sauté for a few minutes. Add either tomato paste (if you don’t want too much tomato) or chopped/pureed fresh tomato or canned tomato (if you like lots of tomato flavor and sauce). Personally, I just use tomato paste and then add water–but now with so many fresh tomatoes, I will add some fresh tomato instead of water. If using paste, always saute after the onions and before the okra. For the vegetarian dish, you can keep cooking on the stove if you like sauce OR you can transfer it to the oven for a crispy okra and a drier dish. Also, you can add potato wedges, which I would sauté with the okra.
With fish: add the above recipe to a baking pan with desired fish –flounder fillet works well–and bake for about 20-30 minutes or until fish is ready. In this case, it should be cooked on the stove until almost ready–about 20-30 minutes.
Okra with chicken: brown chicken pieces in EVOO first. Then take out the chicken and put in baking pan. Prepare onions and okra as outlined above and pour into the baking pan. Roast at around 400F for 30-40 minutes until all is golden brown.