Recipe for 10 Servings

Ingredients:

• 2 kg okra
• ½ cup olive oil
• 2 onions, thinly sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 5-6 red chopped or grated tomatoes
• 1 cup tinned chopped tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• Vegetable stock
• Juice of 1 lemon
• Salt – Ground pepper
• 1 bay leaf

Instructions

1. Peel the okra stems but do no cut it all off. Dip them in salt and then sprinkle the okra with a few spoonfuls of wine vinegar. Set aside (for 1 hour approx.) preferably in a sunny spot, while you prepare the rest (If using frozen okra skip this step).
2. In a non stick pan, saute the onions, garlic and okra.
3. Add the grated and tinned tomatoes the tomato puree.
4. Add enough vegetable stock (to cover).
5. Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper and bay leaf and simmer (without stirring as they will break) for about 30 minutes or until the okra are tender and the sauce is nice and thick. Alternatively, you can bake the okra in the oven.
6. Serve with feta cheese and fresh salad.

Chef’s Tips

• Avoid washing the okra (as with taro) because it makes them slimy.
• For better results try to use fresh, young, tender okra from the same crop.

Seasonal Food Commodities

Vegetables / Salad / Herbs:

Okra, cucumber, dill, endive, green amaranth, zucchini/courgette, onions, cabbage, parsley, fennel, lettuce, peppers, chicory, celery, Swiss chard, garlic, tomatoes, beets, taro, radishes, carrots, eggplant/aubergine, potatoes, green beans

Fruit:

Apricots, ‘caisia’ (variety of apricot), strawberries, cherries, peaches (some varieties), watermelons, sour cherries, melons, pears, medlar, oranges

Nuts / Pulses:

Raisins, walnuts, almonds, lentils, peas, white beans, fresh and dried louvi (black eyed peas), dried broad beans, chickpeas

Fish:

Trout, freshwater bass, mullet, whitebait, sea bream, kourkouna (rabbit fish), white seabream, parrot fish, saddled seabream

Poultry / Meat:

Chicken, lamb, goat, beef, pork

Traditional Dishes:

Thyme honey, taro with celery (sometimes also with meat),‘koupepia’ (stuffed fresh vine leaves), ‘poules’ (baby kolokassi