Muses

If you’re an okra lover, tell me what you think.

Well, instead of giving you a dumbfounded selfie of myself watching a video snippet of Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance last night — I’ll do something almost as controversial.

Take perfectly good okra and roast it.

I know, I know. Any self-respecting Southern mama grows okra in her yard and after harvesting — she dips it in corn meal and drops it in a frying pan,

Well, last summer I happened onto this recipe where okra is roasted. And it is amazing.

And probably a lot better for you. Not saying that I haven’t fried any okra this summer. I did.

Once.

But I’ve roasted it lots more. It’s easy. Far less messy and quicker. And roasting gives it the same taste as texture as frying. And none of the stickiness of stewing so here’s the recipe y’all.

Well, first you have to go into the garden and pick your okra.

First in a little botany lesson, all okra veggies start with this lovely flower.

Then the flower falls off and you get this cute little okra growing. This guy is too little. I let him stay to grow another day or so.

I picked a bunch about four to five inches took them inside. Chopped them up.

Oops. Let me back up. You preheat your over to 425.

Then put your sliced okra into a cookie sheet. I use a roasting pan — oops — because I just really looked hard at the recipe the first time and it says foiled-lined cookie sheet. Well, seems I’ve been doing that wrong.

Drizzle with a tablespoon of olive oil.

I sprinkle one teaspoon of kosher salt. The recipe calls for two. One to me is plenty.

Then I shake on some black pepper.

Bake it for 15 minutes and it’s done.

YUMMY.

Here was my lunch today. I’m not a food blogger so I’m sure this could look a heck of a lot more appetizing.

Okra popcorn.