Your Vegan Mom

Fried Okra

I don't have much experience with okra. There was a plate of ho-hum fried stuff at a ferry launch in one of the Carolinas a few summers ago. And a revelatory, fresh, crisp, spicy dish that I confidently ordered for Paul in an Indian restaurant in London after I pretended that I totally understood the menu (The Hindi words for eggplant and okra are pretty similar right? Maybe they both have b's?). But I had certainly never cooked it myself until last week. After Autumn from Mississippi assured me that it was perfectly respectable for me to start buying okra now, I brought some home from the farmers market on Saturday.  And they are so pretty.  The boy kept stealing raw slices off the plate.  And actually, they're not bad this way.  Does anybody here... maybe sliver them in salads?  Any raw okra experience in the house?  

While I am looking forward to trying Damon Lee Fowler's recipe for whole baby okra in olive oil that he assures me will convert any avowed okra detractors, and Autumn tells me that stewing them babies with tomatoes is the best way, I didn't have the tiny specimens that Mr. Fowler's recipe calls for, nor the tomatoes to go Autumn's route, so we fried them.

And this is certainly not a bad way to go. Really, coat anything in corn meal, pan fry it, and it's going to be good. Also, I really like how the natural glue that oozes from cut okra is put to good use in adhering corn meal to itself. Cool. We used this incredibly simple recipe.

Southern Bean Dip

Tomorrow I won't talk about beans. We'll talk about okra, or fried green tomatoes, or peaches, or plums, or my in-laws, or Austin, or pizza, I haven't decided yet. I promise, I'll let off with the beans for some time. Really I do eat other things. But this is just one little area where the South treats a vegan awfully well. As I'm pretty sure I've mentioned repeatedly, there are just so many kinds of beans down here. In flippin' Super Target you can find dried varieties that a California girl had never even heard of, so you can imagine that the farmers market is a giddy treasure trove of tasty little gems right now. I love it. 

Also, I love party food. That's why practically that whole pot of fresh lady cream peas was turned into a dip. The beans were already so tasty that they didn't need much doctoring to turn them into a luscious smoky puree. I whirred some with the immersion blender along with a few more shakes of chipotle powder, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a pinch more salt. Topped with a smattering of spring onions, we ate it all week, warm or at room temperature, with chunks of crusty toasted bread, or with fingers scraping the bottom of the bowl when the bread was gone. 

I was thinking, wouldn't this be perfect as part of a southern tapas-type meal? I had intended to accompany the beans and bread with a dish of bourbon mushrooms, and wedges of cornmeal crusted fried green tomatoes, a turnip green omelette, and smoked paprika dusted roasted potatoes with melty sweet onions, but our weekend got so busy that it just didn't happen. I think that would make a pretty great party spread though when we get home.  So get out your stretchy pants* friends and family of Los Angeles - we're coming home July 5th!  

*(That's a quote from Paul's favorite casino buffet billboard - freakin' gross, man.)   

Fresh Beans

Those are lady cream peas from the farmers market on Saturday.  The boy was smitten.  He just would not put them down.  And they were absolutely delicious - so creamy and lush.    

Here's how I've been cooking them beans:

3 Tbsp. butter or olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1 quart fresh little beans 

6 - 8 cups water (depends on how fresh your beans are and how soupy you want it) 

4 cloves garlic, roasted

1 jalapeno, roasted

several shakes of chipotle powder

1 bay leaf

small pinch dried thyme

salt and pepper

fresh parsley and green onion to garnish 

Melt butter in a large pot.  Saute onions, carrots, and celery until soft and beginning to brown.  Add the fresh beans and the water.  Bring the pot to a boil and then let simmer for half an hour.  While this is cooking, heat up a small cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Toast the jalapeno and the garlic in its skin on the cast iron until it's charred on all sides.  Wrap the jalapeno in foil so that it steams and the charred skin loosens.  Peel and chop up the garlic and chile.  Add them to the bean pot along with the bay leaf, thyme, chipotle powder, salt, and pepper.  Let simmer another half hour or until beans are tender. Taste for salt.  Serve with fresh parsley and green onions.

***

Hey, doesn't an hour seem like an awful long time to be cooking fresh beans?  But that's how long it has been taking for them to become velvety soft.  Southerners, can you offer any insight here?  Do you think that all the shelled fresh beans that I'm finding right now were frozen from last year's crop?  Because it is a little early in the season.  Or does it really just take this long to cook these sorts of beans?  

This and That

I have so much food to talk about, but there just isn't time right now.  The In-laws arrive tomorrow and I haven't even written a thank you note yet for that radical birthday present, so I guess I better at least clean the house.  Before I forget though, I have to mention a few quick things:

Did you see the potato article in the Sunday New York Times?  Apparently tempers are flaring as two South American countries take credit for that beloved tuber.  I love a good potato controversy.  

And the review of The Fruit Hunters?  Sounds like an interesting summer read.

And until it just now came to my attention, I hadn't read Amy Scattergood's article about romesco sauce last week because I've been avoiding the L.A. Times food section.  Russ Parsons telling me about what's in season at the area farmers markets just makes me want to kick a rock.  If y'all eat all the apricots and cherries before I get home, there will be consequences.  But it's a shame to ever miss one of Ms. Scattergood's saucier columns, especially one that is so particularly vegan-friendly. And romesco has always spoken to me.  I love the idea, but I've never found a recipe that has lived up to my expectations... I expect this one will.   

And a Public Service Announcement:  Don't cut your own hair really fast just as you are supposed to be walking out the door.  Not even if your husband taunts you with, "Really?  REALLY?  You REALLY think it's a good idea to cut your own hair really fast right now, when we're supposed to be walking out the door?"  Who knew Paul was so wise?  It turns out he was right.  It's not a good idea.  There are not enough barrettes in this world to fix this haircut.  I guess a scarf is in order until it grows out.   

And finally, Spork Foods just announced their summer schedule.  I've never taken their classes, but they look great, and my girls have nothing but good things to say.  Oh and speaking of those girls, that Foodeater is having a tough time right now, so go give her some sort of virtual hug. 

Oh, and because it's always nice to have a picture - those are purple hull peas up there.  I love all the different kinds of beans you can find here in the South.  In the near future I will tell you how I've been cooking them.  It's gonna be good.  And it's not gonna involve a ham hock.