OKRA and TOMATOES CASSEROLE

OKRA and TOMATOES CASSEROLE

3 cups sliced okra
1/4 cup oil
1 (10-ounce) can Ro-Tel tomatoes, undrained
1 medium onion, chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup crushed potato chips
1/4 cup fine, dry bread crumbs

Place okra in lightly greased 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Drizzle with oil. Top with tomatoes and onion. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover loosely with foil. Bake at 400 degrees, stirring occasionally, 1 hour.

Stir together potato chips and crumbs; sprinkle over casserole. Bake, uncovered, 15 more minutes or until lightly browned.

CREOLE TOMATO CASSEROLE

Creole Tomato Casserole
Makes 6 servings

3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups chopped onions
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 cup chopped bell peppers
1 cup chopped celery
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 pound ground beef (or 1 pound sweet Italian sausage remove from the casing and crumbled)
6 Creole tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried sweet basil
1 cup fine breadcrumbs
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

In a large heavy pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add the onions, green onions, bell pepper, celery and garlic. Cook, stirring, for 8 to 10 minutes, or until soft and golden. Add the ground beef (or Italian sausage) and cook, stirring often, until brown. Add the tomatoes, salt, cayenne, oregano and basil. Cook, uncovered, over medium-low fire, stirring occasionally, for one hour. Skim off any oil that rises to the surface.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour the mixture into a baking dish.  Sprinkle the top with the breadcrumbs, then drizzle with the butter. Sprinkle the top with the cheese. Bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese melts.

WATERMELON and TOMATO SALAD

WATERMELON and TOMATO SALAD

2 ½ cups seedless watermelon, in 1­inch cubes or balls (cut over a bowl to catch the juice and reserve it) 

1 ½ cups cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half 

½ cup finely diced or crumbled Stilton, Gorgonzola, feta, Roquefort or Maytag blue cheese
½ cup minced scallions
Salt 

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
Pinch cayenne 

½ cup cilantro or parsley, roughly chopped

Combine the watermelon, tomato, cheese, scallions and salt in a bowl. Whisk or blend together about 2 tablespoons of the watermelon juice, oil, vinegar and cayenne.To serve, dress the salad with this mixture and garnish with cilantro. Do not refrigerate and serve within 30 minutes.

DIRTY RICE for PEPPERS and STUFFED TOMATOES

Dirty Rice for Peppers

1 pound chicken livers
4 Tbsp. Butter, more as needed
1 medium onion, chopped
½ medium bell pepper, chopped
1 rib celery
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 bunch parsley, minced
½ tsp thyme
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. hot sauce
　
3 cups day old cooked rice
Finely chop chicken livers and saute with onion, bell pepper and celery, till soft. Mix in the garlic and green onions and parsley; cook for five more minutes. Mash up the livers as well as you can, you want no large pieces. Add the thyme, bay leaf, hot sauce and cook briefly to mellow the garlic. Add the rice and mix well. Cook until heated through. 

This is as close as I can get to a formula. It’s really an improvised dish for the most part. Another thing you can do is cook a box of Zatarains dirty rice mix and add to this along with the leftover white rice. Could throw in some granulated garlic to taste as well. Whatever you do will be good. Look at some pictures on the internet to get the general idea.

Stuffed Tomatoes

4 rather small ripe tomatoes
2 cups Dirty Rice (see recipe)
Red bell pepper or roasted red pepper strips for garnish

Preheat oven to 350. Scoop out tomatoes to make a shell in the usual way. Turn upside down on paper towels to drain. Fill each tomato with 1/4 cup dirty rice. Place in square baking pan . Fill with water about ½ way to the top of the tomatoes. Cook for 30 minutes at 350. Serves 4.

VICKSBURG TOMATO SANDWICHES

Vicksburg Tomato Sandwiches

Makes 36
4 loaves day-old bread 
6 to 8 medium tomatoes, peeled 
Salt and black pepper 
Mayonnaise, preferably homemade 
1 grated onion with juice 
Paprika 

With a large (2- or 3-inch) biscuit cutter, cut bread slices into 72 rounds. Slice tomatoes thinly and place on double sheets of paper towels to drain. Salt and pepper tomato slices. 
Spread mayonnaise on bread rounds. Place well-drained tomato slices on half of the bread rounds and sprinkle again with salt and pepper. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of onion with juice over each tomato and top with remaining bread rounds. Sprinkle tops with paprika. 
To save until serving time, place on a cookie sheet with waxed paper between the layers.

CURRIED TOMATO BISQUE

CURRIED TOMATO BISQUE

1/2 cup finally sliced green onions

4 Tbsp. melted butter

4 cans undiluted tomato soup

5 cups water

3 teaspoons curry powder

3 grated or mashed egg yolks (for garnish)

Sauté onion in butter until lightly browned.  Add soup, water and curry.  heat thoroughly, stirring constantly.  Serve hot or cold, garnished with grated egg yolks.

8 to 12 servings

OKRA HAM AND TOMATO GUMBO

Okra, Ham and Tomato Gumbo

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
4 strips hickory-smoked bacon, chopped
2 packages sliced, frozen okra, 16-ounce size
2 cans chopped tomatoes, 14.5 ounce size
1 -1/2 cups store-bought chopped vegetable seasoning
1 cup frozen yellow corn
2 teaspoons seafood seasoning
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¾ cup vegetable or seafood stock
4 whole bay leaves
½ teaspoon dried thyme
2 pounds 51-60 shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup small diced ham
1 pound tiny elbow macaroni, cooked al dente
Flat leaf parsley, finely chopped for garnish
½ cup green onions, thinly sliced for garnish

Put a 5-quart heavy cast iron Dutch oven on the stove top over medium heat. Then fry down the bacon in the vegetable oil until lightly browned and crispy. Remove it from the pot and set it aside for a while.
Now drop into the pot the frozen okra and fry it down, too, until the okra begins to brown and the "rope" starts to disappear (about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally). Then, with the fire still at medium heat, drop in the chopped tomatoes, the vegetable seasoning mix, the corn, the seafood seasoning, they cayenne pepper, the bay leaves, and the dried thyme.
Next, stir everything together well, making sure it is all totally combined. Now reduce the heat to low, cover the pot, and let the gumbo simmer for about 20-25 minute or until the veggies are tender.
At this point, drop in the shrimp and the ham, stir them into the mixture, cover the pot, and let the pot of gumbo simmer once more for about 10 minutes.
When you’re ready to eat, spoon out a generous helping of elbow macaroni in a large soup bowl, ladle the gumbo over the pasta, and garnish the bowl with a scattering of parsley and green onions and top off the dish with a light sprinkling of bacon.
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Editor’s Note:
Traditionally, gumbos, regardless of the kind, are served over hot, steamed, white rice. But not this one. The elbow macaroni lends a different dimension and rounds out the depth of flavor.
If you can find really tender, young okra at, say, a farmers’ market, you can substitute it for the frozen stuff. But make certain the pods are young and tender otherwise the okra will turn out tasting tough and "woody."
It is perfectly permissible to use "fresh" tomatoes (preferably Roma) when making this recipe. Just remember to peel and de-seed the tomatoes before dicing them an smothering them down in the Dutch oven.
In lieu of frozen corn on the cob, you may also prefer to use fresh corn. Simply strip off the kernels (along with the corn "milk") and blend them into the other ingredients, allowing them to smother long enough to soften and tenderize the hulls.
　

INFUSED OILS. TOMATO, BASIL, SPICE AND CITRUS

Tomato Oil
Yields 12 ounces.

2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp. minced onion
1 Tbsp. minced carrot
1 ½ ounce olive oil
8 oz. Canned plum tomatoes, seeded and drained
3 Tbsp. Shredded basil
8 oz. Olive oil
salt to taste

Sweat the garlic, onions and carrots in the olive oil over low heat until tender and without much color
Add the tomatoes and gently simmer for 10 minutes or until the flavor is intensified. Cool the mixture for 10 minutes. Add the basil and puree in a food processor or blender for 30 seconds.
Place tomato puree back in the pan and add the oil. Bring to a simmer and cook very slowly until the flavor is infused into the oil, about 30 minutes.
Drain through a fine sieve. Season with salt and transfer to a squeeze bottle. (Or put in a jar and dispense it using a teaspoon). Refrigerate until needed. Use within 4 to 5 days.

Basil Oil (Basic Herb Oil)
Yield: 17 fl. ounces.

3 oz basil leaves (that’s about 2 cups of leaves)
1 oz. Flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 cups olive oil

Toss the basil and parsley leaves in salted boiling water for 20 seconds. Have a bowl of ice water handy.  Drain the water from the herbs by pouring through a seive and immediately plop them into the bowl of ice water and swish them about. Drain off the water and tip the herbs onto paper towels, gently move them about to dry them fairly well. Combine the blanched herbs with half the oil in a blender and puree unntil very fine. Add this puree to the remaining oil. You can further refine the result by straining it through a clean cloth or a coffee filter.

Transfer the infused oil to a storage container or squirt bottle. Keep chilled. Use within 3 to 4 days.
This recipe works with most green herbs; chives, tarragon, chervil, parsley, mint or sage (which makes an especially unexpectedly pleasant oil.
For chive oil simply replace the basil with chives. Blanching is not necessary. Green tops of green onions, chopped fine will work almost as well as chives.

Cinnamon Oil (Basic Spice Oil)
Yield: 16 ounces

19 oz. Sunflower oil
12 cdinnamon sticks, crushed
1 nutmeg, quartered

Heat the oil in a small saucepan with the cinnamon and nutmeg until approximately 150 degrees (estimate scalding hot water). Remove from heat and cool. Spices will burn if the oil boils.

Strain the oil through a clean cloth or coffee filter into a bottle or other clean container. Allow to cool and put a cork in the container. No need to refrigerate but a cool dark place is ideal for storage. Use in 3 or 4 days.
Brush on baking chicken or fish done any way for an exotic flavor. You can use virtually any spice or blend of spices but avoid salted ones.

Curry Oil: replace the cinnamon and nutmeg with 2 oz. Curry Powder. Try using any dried spice this way-without fear.

Orange Oil (Basic Citrus Oil)
Yields 16 oz.
24 oz. Good oil,
3 oranges, zest only, cut into 1 x 3-inch strips.
(Peel the orange zest from the oranges using a vegetable peeler.

Heat the oil to about 140 degrees-same as extremely hot tap water.
Add orange zest. Transfer to a storage conteiner and refrigerate to infuse overnight. Taste the next day and strain if the flavor is good. If stronger flavor is desired, allow to infuse longer. Strain, cover and store in cool, dark place.
Add a few minced cloves of garlic for a great oil to brush on fish (fried, grilled, baked or steamed)
Cover and refrigerate, best used within 3 or four days.
Use 6 lemons instead of oranges if you want lemon. 8 limes for lime.