Food & Wine (September 2012)
Here's a confession: We haven't really cooked this week.
We got home from vacation on Sunday and the cupboards were bare. We're talking vodka-in-the-freezer, ketchup-in-the-refrigerator-door bare. We knew we had to remedy that, so we went to the supermarket and picked up a few staples. Two days later, we got our weekly CSA share, so we've had a good amount of fresh vegetables in the house (okra, eggplant, arugula, a few tomatoes).
But then we haven't really been motivated to do any focused cooking to share here with you. Oh, we've been eating at home. But it's been more of an improvised, no-recipe, throw-a-bunch-of-stuff-in-a-skillet kind of thing. Very, very simple.
It's been a nice respite. We've been been busy catching up at work, so it's been nice to spend less time in the kitchen. And the food we've been cooking has been very healthy, which is a nice break after decadent beach food.
But simple food can be excellent food, and sometimes, the simplest recipes can really surprise you.
Food & Wine's September issue happens to be full of recipes that are simple, in that they only have three ingredients (plus oil, salt and pepper).
We're hard pressed to think of dishes in our regular rotation that only have three ingredients. Simple egg dishes? Very simple sautés?
This recipe showcases the power of simple, because this Grilled Okra with Red Curry-Lime Dressing is a complete knock-out -- one of our favorite dishes we've cooked so far this year.
This is a first for us for a few reasons:
We've never grilled okra. We've fried okra, roasted okra, and fried okra some more. But it's never gone near the grill in our house. For the okra-shy, the slimy issue isn't a problem in this dish. The heat of the grill seems to take care of it.
We've also never purchased red curry paste for a dish. We've used a similar red-chile paste waaaaaaay back in 2008 for a pork chop recipe, but in that case it wasn't a star ingredient. We loved the red curry (it's not too spicy). Mixed with fresh lime juice and oil, it's tangy and addictive.
We grilled the okra, snapped the photo you see above, and then picked an okra off the skewer to try it. Then another another, then another. They never made it back to the kitchen, or to our table. We sat there greedily eating them, and loving every bite.
Do you have a favorite simple recipe? Something you make that has precious few ingredients, but is a real knock-out? Please share it with us and other readers!
Recommended:
- There's a gallery of all 15 three-ingredient recipes available at FoodandWine.com
Grilled Okra with Red Curry-Lime Dressing
Food & Wine (September 2012) | Recipe by Grace Parisi
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(This photo: Con Poulos, Food & Wine)
- TOTAL TIME: 20 MIN
- SERVINGS: 4
Total Time: 20 Minutes
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon Thai red curry paste
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
Salt
1 pound okra, trimmed
METHOD
Light a grill or preheat a grill pan. In a bowl, whisk the curry paste with the oil and the lime juice and season with salt. Double-skewer the okra crosswise onto 4 pairs of bamboo skewers. Brush the okra with oil; season with salt.
Brush the grill grates with oil. Grill the okra over high heat, turning once or twice, until lightly charred in spots and tender, about 10 minutes. Brush with some of the curry dressing and grill until the okra is sizzling, about 1 minute. Drizzle the okra with the remaining dressing and serve warm.
