Farmland Vegetable Pie with Phyllo Crust

Are you tired of hearing about my twitter recipe ideas? Well, I hope not. Because here is another one.

This recipe was also an idea that was "tweeted" to me when I posed the problem of the bag of fresh okra.
Nancy told me about a vegetable pie that she made last year that contained okra, alongside a bunch of other fresh veggies. She tweeted me a link to her post about the pie and that was really all it took.
I decided it would be our meal before church on Sunday (we go to church at 1 pm). That gave me Sunday morning to put it together.
The original recipe calls for summer squash, yellow tomatoes, okra, and corn. Nancy added green beans. I decided to use zucchini along with the summer squash, eggplant instead of the tomatoes (my hubby hates them) and a red bell pepper instead of the corn.

I also decided that I would top my pies with a light phyllo crust instead of making the pie-like crust originally called for. I did this to reduce the prep and cook time and also to save some calories.
The pie also contains hard boiled eggs and cheese. Here is a shot of my sauteed veggies with the chopped eggs.
For my crust, I thawed out my phyllo dough and layered 4 sheets, spraying heavily with cooking spray between each layer. I then cut the pieces to fit over my individual pies. (I halved the recipe). It only took about 15 minutes for the phyllo crust to be brown and crispy.

I absolutely loved this! My hubby and kids had to be bribed a little bit (they like veggies, but this was asking a little much), so I also made some mini meatballs to round out this meal, which were super delicious, that I will share at another time.

The veggies still had a little bit of crispness, thanks to the short saute and small amount of time that they spent in the oven. The cheese and eggs added nice texture and flavor.
I am so glad I have found a few other ways to eat okra!
I also wanted to share this trick for getting your hard boiled eggs perfect. I am sure you know that if the yolk has a greenish tint around it, that means they are overboiled. If the yolk is mushy and dark yellow, then they are underboiled.
I found this method from Martha Stewart a couple of years ago when I first made Open "Face" Egg Sandwiches.
I actually boiled extra eggs so we could make those sandwiches later on in the week- it is one of my son's absolute favorite dinners- you can check out my post about it HERE
Hard Boiled Eggs from Martha Stewart
In a medium saucepan, cover 7 eggs (in a single layer) with water, 1 inch above eggs. Bring to a boil; cook, uncovered, 2 minutes. Cover and remove from heat; let stand 10 minutes. Place eggs in bowl under cold running water until cool. Peel eggs.
Recipe for Farmland Vegetable Pie

Nancy's post about Farmland Vegetable Pie

One Year Ago-Baked Fish with Roasted Mixed Vegetables

Okra, Okra- What do I do with you?

The other day my husband came home with a huge bag of fresh okra.
I really love that people are willing to share their fresh produce with us.

I already mentioned my problem with okra-mainly, that I don't really know what to do with it besides fry it and I am not a big fan of frying things at home.
This time, I took my problem to Twitter. I got lots of great ideas and recipe links- oven roasted whole okra, grilled okra, stews, gumbos, etc.
Kayte of Grandma's Kitchen Table sent me the link for Easy Indian style Okra on allrecipes- it looked easy, the spices sounded good and it was perfect for a quick side dish.
I reduced the butter by a little bit and this easy okra dish was a real hit for us.

I also did some searching of my own and found this recipe on epicurious, Curried Okra with Chickpeas and Tomatoes. I love chickpeas and thought it would be fun to try a recipe that left the okra whole. My only comment on this one is to make sure that you don't cook the okra too long, because it tastes better when it still has a little firmness to it. I had to pick the tomatoes out of my husband's serving, but other that that, everyone liked this recipe too.

I am glad that I have found more ways to cook okra-these were both really delicious!



Recipe for Easy Indian Style Okra

Recipe for Curried Okra with Chickpeas and Tomatoes

One Year Ago-Lemon Cupcakes with Raz-Pepper Preserves and Pierre Herme's Chocolate Eclairs

Oven Fried Okra

I am not an expert on okra. Nor am I a true Southerner.

My father-in-law showed up the other day with fresh okra, tomatoes, and squash that he had picked from the garden.

My only memories of okra as a child were not good ones. My grandpa had a huge garden and he grew everything imaginable. I mean everything. The only way he ever served okra was stewed. It was gluey, it was sticky, it was gross. Therefore, okra disappeared from my life for awhile.

Then, I married a Southerner. He loves fried okra. I have learned to like it and have made it a couple of times. Only on special occasions- like his birthday, or when someone is visiting or something like that because I don't like to fry food at home.

So, with all the okra I received, I didn't know what to do. I started looking through cookbooks and found this recipe for Oven Fried Okra from Cooking Light.
It sounded good and I was very curious to see how it would compare to the usual fried kind.

You slice the okra, soak it in buttermilk, then dredge it in cornmeal, which has a hit of cayenne, and oven fry it for about 40 minutes.

I thought it was good. Not as crunchy as fried, but still good. My kids and hubby liked it too.

But, I am not a Southerner, so I didn't mind that it wasn't just like fried okra. Some of the people who reviewed this recipe were not pleased. (you can rate and review recipes on myrecipes)

If you do make this, make sure when you are dredging the okra in the coating, that it doesn't get on there too thick. That happened to some of my pieces and they were a little dry.

I thought this made a good snack and was a nice alternative to fried okra. What do you do with okra? If you have a fave recipe, please share!


Recipe for Oven Fried Okra

Chicken N Dumplings, Fried Okra, Sauteed Spinach with Mushrooms, and Kale Chips

The other night we had some dinner guests. One was from Georgia and the other was from Texas. My husband who is also from Georgia, decided we should have Chicken N Dumplings and Fried Okra. He wanted to treat these boys to some southern food and from the way they devoured it and from what they said- it had been awhile. I already posted the super easy Chicken N Dumplings recipe that my very good friend Miss Betsy showed me how to make, about a month before we moved from Georgia. They are my husband's favorite and so, I have been making them every couple of months. The recipe can be found HERE. I also decided to make Kale Chips, which I blogged about a couple months ago. I could eat those all day, salty and crispy- HERE is the recipe. We also had fried okra (It disappeared quickly) and I served up some Sauteed Spinach with Mushrooms -HEREand HERE are a couple of variations of this recipe that I have previously posted. The Chicken N Dumplings don't really take a good picture, but if you are familiar with them, you will appreciate their appearance. I know my hubby does! We finished the whole meal with Banana Pudding Pie, a twist on a Southern favorite. Check it out, above! Did I mention we had some very happy dinner guests??!!

Fried Okra from Emeril

1 pound okra

Buttermilk

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

Essence, recipe follows

Oil, for frying

Salt and pepper
With a sharp knife, slice the okra into 1-inch slices. Season the okra with salt and pepper. Marinate the okra in buttermilk. Marinate for 30 minutes and drain. Place 1 quart of oil in a saucepan. Heat the oil. In a shallow dish, mix the flour and cornmeal together. Season the flour with Essence. Dredge the okra in the seasoned flour/cornmeal mixture, coating the okra completely. Fry the okra in the hot oil until golden brown, about 2 to 3 minutes. Fry the okra in batches. Remove the okra from the oil and drain on a paper-lined plate. Season with salt and pepper.
Emeril's Essence Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):
2 1/2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly