Sunday, March 17, 2013

Oven roasted okra

OMG!  I have a new favorite vegetable!  I adore fried okra, but for several reasons, don't like to cook it at home.  For one thing, it's messy and uses a lot of oil.  Secondly, I'm trying not to eat so many fried foods and third, the coating never stays on the way I want it to.  So, for some odd reason, I thought I'd try to bake it like you do Baked "fried" chicken.  Big mistake.  Tried it several times and never did like it.  It was too bready, or the coating got too hard, etc.

Anyhoo, one day I thought, I'll just try roasting it with olive oil without the coating and see what happens.  This is the easiest thing I've ever done and you simply MUST try it.  The taste of fried okra without the coating, making it low-fat and allergen free!

INGREDIENTS

1 bag of sliced frozen okra
1 T. olive oil
Sea salt

1.  Heat oven to 425 degrees.  I use a really dark pan, so I heated to 400 degrees.  Spray the pan with olive oil spray.

2.  Pour the frozen okra onto the pan and drizzle the tablespoon of olive oil over it.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  I like my okra salty, so I used a teaspoon and a half, but you do it to taste.

3.  Mix it with your hands or spatula and place in oven.

4.  Cook for a total of 25-30 minutes, stirring it after 15.  If the okra hasn't gotten a little black, by the end of the 30 minutes, keep cooking until a lot of the moisture comes out and some of the pieces have become blackened.

5.  Eat and enjoy!