Looking for Recipe for Shrimp and Okra (stewed?)

If you like such recipes, do yourself a favor and head to a book store and pick up a cookbook called "Talk About Good" that comes in 2 volumes, of which I have both.

These are like the Cajun cookbook bibles filled with a lot of the dishes we grew up eating and they have tons of great recipes in them that are easy to follow.

It covers everything from soup to desserts and all points between. You can't go wrong with them.

^^^ this

I prefer medium to smaller shrimp, and a lot more of them. Cook the okra & tomatoes down well before adding the (raw, peeled) shrimp.

It takes okra a couple hours of cooking on a low boil to get rid of all the slime it produces when put in the pot cut up fresh or frozen.

It will look real nasty at first, especially when you stir it and remove the spoon and that shite is dripping back into the pot, but fear not, the longer it cooks, the better it gets.


ETA: I never use anything but shrimp in this type dish, and a good seafood stock would give it some great flavor right away as opposed to using plain water.


If you are planning to use fresh shrimp, peel them and put the shells and heads in a pot, cover with water and boil that for about an hour to get that stock to use in the shrimp stew dish.

Damn that sounds good.

quote:

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Cook the okra & tomatoes down well before adding the (raw, peeled) shrimp.

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The way I cook the okra is similar to sautéing. Bring the heat up to medium high and stir consistently, do not let the okra stick in the bottom of the pot. To keep the okra moist, I'll use a half cup of chicken broth. Fry the okra down til the slime is cooked down. It will take about 40-50 minutes on medium high heat to cook the slime out of a gallon size freezer bag of okra and it becomes dark green.

You can also use a lot of different meats in smothered okra.. barbecued chicken and sausage is delicious in smothered okra.

When I made this in NY, Link's rep tracked me down and told me, "People in New York don't eat to be courteous. If it's not good, New Yorkers have no problem eating absolutely nothing.. But look at this.. people are coming for seconds and they're wiping everything out.. And this okra.. It's the real deal."
Next month they're taking me to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx for a tour of the "REAL Little Italy". Looking forward to sharing the discoveries.
(sorry for the hijack)

Additionally, if you like smothered okra (and you will) the thing to do is find a grower or source for the longhorn okra. Buy a bushel or two and prep the okra by slicing and cooking or sautéing it down with onions, bell pepper and tomato. Spread it out and let it cool on a cookie sheet, then store it in ziploc or vacuum sealed bags and freeze til your ready for it. All you have to do then, is let it thaw, put it in a size pot of your choice and after it’s warmed, add your meats or shrimp..

Another hijack (my bad). There’s a lady at the Baton Rouge Farmer’s Market that makes Okra Rice Dressing. She mixes okra with ground meat and rice and it’s quite good. Would love to find her recipe.

I will start the dish off with some smoked pork....either bacon grease, a little diced smoked sausage, or tasso. Whatever’s on hand,

My wife makes it and adds a little andouille to it. I like it over rice.