It's my favorite time of the year for gardening. Unfortunately the extreme heat and drought are playing havoc with my harvests but today I picked a few tomatoes, hot peppers, green beans and okra. I usually fry the okra but today I making it in to another favorite dish: Stewed Tomatoes and Okra. It's a southern thang.
INGREDIENTS:
6 to 8 ripe tomatoes
2 cups okra, rinsed, trimmed and sliced
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
3/4 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped green pepper
3 tablespoons sugar (more or less)
1 small bay leaf
1 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
Italian flat-leaf parsley to garnish
2 tablespoons bacon drippings
PREPARATION:
In a small cast iron skillet, sauté the onion in the bacon drippings over medium heat until softened, not browned. For a low fat version, dry sweat onions until barely carmalized.
Core tomatoes; place in boiling water for about 15 to 20 seconds, then into ice water to cool quickly; peel. Cut tomatoes in wedges, squeeze out seeds if desired.Combine all ingredients in a slower cooker (Crock Pot). Cover and cook on low 6-8 hours. Remove bay leaf (or omit entirely if you don't like the flavor of bay laurel.) Sprinkle top with parsley, if desired. Serve as a side dish or freeze in portions for soups or other recipes.
