I served this at the community kitchen one day and about a tenth of the people let me know before my hand reached the serving spoon "I don't want any of the okra." Upon seeing it, many more folk got big smiles on their face and said, "I'd like some of that okra." The entire hotel pan was cleaned before the end of the serving. The lesson learned is to have a second choice of corn, a vegetable that nearly everyone will eat. Midway through the serving we added a pan of green beans to the steam table so that folks would get their vegetables.
Here's the reason some folks will not eat okra. It is because a thick, sticky liquid will be present if the okra is not cooked long enough. Some call it "slime." You can tell folks that your okra and tomato casserole is not slimy, tastes good, and it's darn good for them.
For a crowd:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Ingredients:
- 6 pounds of okra, wash, cut/dispose of stems, & slice each pod into 1/2 inch rounds.
- 9 cups of Vidalia onions, in large chunks
- 9 cups of celery, in large chunks
- 9 cups canned Hunt’s diced tomatoes ( 3, 28 oz cans)
- 5 bay leaves
- 1 cup olive oil
- 4 tablespoons sea salt (more to shake on at the table)
- 1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or shake in some Cholula hot sauce)
- 1 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
- 3 teaspoons fresh or dried thyme leaves
- 9 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in oven proof hotel pans. If you're using okra that was frozen, pour off any excess liquid before adding the other ingredients to the baking pan. Cover the pans with a lid. Bake, stirring now and then, for about 2 to 2.5 hours, or until all of the okra "slime" has disappeared. Uncover the casseroles during the last 20 minutes. Give a shake or too of sea salt on top when you are done.
Provides 45-50 servings
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