Lateness. It seems these days, wherever I am going--whether it be to work, to a meeting, to work out, or even to shower, I am late, by at least 5 to 10 minutes depending on who's watch you are looking at. One of my resolutions for this new year is to show up to more things on time, and here I am, Thursday night...still no recipe posted.
It's not that I don't have one. I do. It's not that it turned out poorly. It didn't. It was actually part of one of the best meals I've had in a while. It's that, well, I have writer's block. The fact that I am writing about having writer's block should have been a dead giveaway right?
At any rate, I have been attempting this post since Monday night. Monday! Night! It's Thursday people. Thursday. Night. I have been diligently plugging away at the Cheftionary I promised you a couple weeks ago, which is a huge project in and of itself. The Printer Friendly Recipe Index is also in production and waiting in the wings--another project of mammoth proportions. To top it off, it has been brought to my attention that there is a cooking school in the US named, le cordon vert, which while it doesn't seem to be copyrighted or trademarked, it is causing me grief and we may be relocating to a more courtroom-friendly domain, which means all of my work on the Cheftionary and Printer-Friendly Index, to this point, has been in vain. So I'm less than inspired to write today.
Don't you fret about any of that though, I'm not going down without a fight and proof of a copyright/trademark; possibly even a court ordered cease. I will keep you posted on the possibility of relocation as it becomes necessary. Another home is already being scouted.
Phew. I'm so glad to get that off of my plate. Now we can put some food on it, yes? Great :-)
Nothing fancy this week, just back to basics I guess. A cold snap has blown through the South making it just cold enough to be uncomfortable and require the disgustingly dry air of the heater. The only good thing I find about cold weather--or colder weather I should say, most northern states would consider our cold snap to be spring-like but I digress...the best thing about cold weather for me is soup. Have I ever told you about my love affair with soup? No. Well, maybe some other time...right now we have to get down to business, and what we have today technically isn't so much a soup as it is something that could be soup if you add extra water. Okra, Corn and Tomatoes.
I have a tiny confession: I had this dish with Grilled Blackened Shrimp. I know, I know. Shrimp are friends too. But they taste sooo good. LOL. I decided not to post the shrimp recipe out of respect for the vegetarian/vegan readers out there. Hopefully this will ease your minds slightly: they were wild caught and locally sourced, and incidentally quite large, which leads me to believe they had a full life, made a bad decision, and ended up on my plate. Survival of the fittest. These were not the fittest of the species. They were the tastiest though. Sorry, I couldn't help it. ;-) Also on the menu this evening was: Imported from New Orleans French Bread with lots of Delitia butter, an updated Wop Salad, Brown Sugar Creole Cream Cheese Evangeline and first of the season Louisiana Strawberries (that turned out not to need any adornment whatsoever) and icy cold Abita Purple Haze. It was eyes-to-the-back-of-the-head good.
For the Vegetarian portion of this post, I recommend using a cast iron Dutch oven. I love my Le Creuset, but use whatever you have available. I used frozen sliced okra, but if you have fresh, go for it, it's even better. A word of caution regarding Rotel tomatoes. They're canned with chiles, and as a result are very spicy. I would suggest trying the mild version first, as they are still quite hot despite the misleading nomenclature. The Original variety are the ones I used and are the hottest ones I can handle, and I love spicy food.
Okra, Corn, and Tomatoes:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 green bell peppers, chopped
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, peeled and grated
2 cups sliced okra pods, fresh or frozen
1 (1ooz) can Rotel tomatoes
1 (28oz) can diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon vegan worcestershire sauce
dash of hot sauce
Melt butter and olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions and saute until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add bell pepper and garlic; continue sauteing until onions are light golden brown and bell pepper is softened. Add okra and cook about 15 minutes. Add Rotel and diced tomatoes, raise heat to high and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Lower heat to bring to a simmer and cover. Cook covered for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer, uncovered, for 8 to 10 minutes. Correct seasoning and serve hot.
This may be served as is, over rice, or thinned down to a soup consistency.
Serves about 8.
