Oven Roasted Okra to Make a Believer Out of You

I have done enough self-reflection over the years to admit that I have a fiery, hot-headed personality.  In certain matters, I vastly prefer people who agree with me over people who don't.  It's not that I can't compromise, I can.  On certain things.  But I can also defend something to the death, and loudly.  Obnoxiously, even.  Don't put it past me.  There's nothing I like better than a good word-wrangle, especially when I can claim myself as the ultimate victor.  That last part is important.  Sure, I could try to get it under control, work on my listening skills, try to see where the other party is coming from, blah blah blah.  But you know, when you're right, you're right.  And I have to tell you: I am right about okra.

And today, I'm going to prove it.  Or rather, I'm going to give you the means to prove it yourself, courtesy of my much loved Yamuna's Table by Yamuna Devi.  Aside from winning the IACP award for her more famous Lord Krishna's Cuisine (which I have yet to get my hands on), the woman sang backup for the Beatles, has cooked for Gandhi and studied at the Cordon Bleu as well as all over India.  I'm all about proving my own points, but when you have an expert in your corner to back you up, well, all the better.  Listen, Devi makes eating okra as addicting as eating candy.  And it's easy.  And it's healthy. (Believe it.)

So if okra can do all of that, it seems this little one-sided debate of mine (maybe better labeled a pontification) has surely won you over, and with okra season just around the corner.  I do love it when I win.

Oven-Roasted Okra

Only very slightly adapted from Yamuna Devi's Yamuna's Table

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon water

1/2 tablespoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt or herb salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1 1/2 lbs. okra, rinsed and patted dry

Lime, cut into wedges

Oven preheated to 500F.  Combine all of the ingredients except the okra and lime in a bowl.  Mix to form a grainy paste.  Toss the okra in the mixture, then spread out on a baking sheet.  Lightly spray the okra with cooking spray, and bake for 10 - 12 minutes.  Shake the pan every once in a while to prevent sticking.  The Okra is done when it's nice and tender.  Serve with lime wedges

Photo du Jour

Parked for lunch.

If we have to be anywhere "on time" (a relative term in the south of France) during the vendange, we must leave the house about 10 minutes early because there is the inevitability of getting stuck behind a trailer like this one or a harvester like this.

Photos du Jour - Pizza Oven

Our friends bought an enormous wood fired pizza oven and hosted a Make Your Own Pizza Party.





It was just like being in Italy!

Too Many Cookbooks?

An article in this month's issue of Elle à Table suggests that too many cookbooks are being published in France. A new book about food or wine is published every day, and the market is saturated, especially for inexpensive books focusing on a single type of food. I have indeed noticed a proliferation of attractive cookbooks in the 7 to 10 euro ($8.50-$12.00) range, such as the excellent titles by the Marabout publishing house. According to Elle à Table, though, the new trend is huge, comprehensive tomes such as Cochon & Fils, which exists in a luxury edition that weighs in at a porky 5 kilograms (11 pounds) and costs around 70 euros ($85.00.) I'm not sure I'll be making the investment.

Cooking School Daze

Have you ever daydreamed about going to culinary school? I have. While I seriously doubt I'll ever attend, I do enjoy getting a glimpse of the professional kitchen. Here are some great ways to sneak a peek for less than even a day's tuition.

Whether you want to see videos of students, techniques or great chefs, the Culinary Institute of America at Epicurious.com has it all. The webcasts or "epi-sodes" are really addictive. I watched one, then another, then another. The chef videos are particularly good. Some highlights are a tour of the Per Se kitchen with Thomas Keller, an interview with Jacques Torres and a clay pot cooking lesson with Charles Phan. Tip: Start at the student episodes and then you can get to Channel Navigation where the technique and chef videos are.

Another great source of cooking school lessons comes from the Culinary Institute of America's ProChef program. There are a free "e-learning" classes you can take online, sponsored by different companies. They even include quizzes at the end of each unit. The Worlds of Flavor section is also terrific, my favorite? Savoring Asia.

Yesterday I got a copy of Baking Boot Camp: Five Days of Basic Training at The Culinary Institute of America and I practically devoured it in one sitting. It's written by Darra Goldstein primarily in a diary format. At the end of the book there are recipes and techniques, and tips are sprinkled throughout, but the day-by-day account of classes are surprisingly exciting in a voyeuristic kind of way. I hope there are more in this series--it's a real winner.

FOOD

Bouquet garni

Very many recipes call for a "bouquet garni" .. and it may be that you wonder what that is.
A bouquet garni or "garnished bouquet" is an assortemnt of herbs, such as bay leaves, thyme, parsely, bundled together and used to give aroma and taste to a marinade, soup, or sauce.
To make one, tie together with some cooking thread 2 bayleaves, 1 branch of thyme, and 1 branch of parsely, and add them to your marinade, soup, or sauce.
Remove at the end of the cooking time.
These are the "classic" ingredients, but I am sure many of you have your own ideas on how to make one!

Does it REALLY add something to the flavor of your dish?

Do this experiment (I did it!). Boil in a small pan some water and add a bay leave and taste ... boil more water and add a thyme branch .... start again and this time add fresh parsely ...
Are you not convinced now? I was .. so now I NEVER forget my bouquet garni!
You can try to learn toidentify what type of flavor an herb adds to your dish by boiling different herbs separetly and tasting the infusion: fennel branches, thyme, sage, mint .. and more!

Bon appetit!

Less than 30 minutes for a full delicious healthy meal!

I'd like to write and illustrate a few posts of what can be done in the kitchen when you have little time - don't we all!
This is all about using the ingredients I bought at the market on a Saturday morning; Saturday I moved on with the "food processing" and had different menus every day of the week.

Cucumber salad with yogurt vunaigrette and cilantro
Red mullets in tomato robe
Steamed Basmati rice
Creamy fresh cheese with home made strawberry preserve

I bought two medium sized red mullets (one per person), I asked the fish mungler to scale and empty them. Before using them I washed them under running water, outside and inside.
I diced 4 medium ripe locally produced tomatoes.
I sliced one fresh garlic clove.
I put olive oil in a rectangular pan, then the diced tomatos, the sliced garlic, I seasoned (sea salt and piment d'Espelette).
I placed the two mullets. I seasoned the fish.
I pour 1/2 glass of dry white wine and I cooked in the oven 20 minutes.
While the fish was in the oven I cooked 1 cup of basmati rice in the rice cooker.
I prepared a cucumber salad as an appetizer and we had creamy fresh cheese (replace with sour cream) with a home made preserve for dessert.
How long did it take me to fix a well balanced nutritious lunch?
TWENTY FIVE minutes ! So there are NO EXCUSES not to eat healty!