Okra, Tomatoes & Meatballs

This is one of my favorite . . all time favorite meals, but I have a lot of favorite meals.

We serve it over rice and it’s just delicious. The only problem is that we have salmon out to cook tonight so the okra, tomatoes and meatballs has to wait til tomorrow! Can I wait?

This dish is so easy to make and every bit of it gets used.

I sent some to the neighbor who brings us tons of okra, watermelons, rhubarb and all kinds of good stuff.

I divided what was left and put some in the freezer and we’ll have the rest tomorrow.

Once all the meatballs are gone, I’ll freeze what’s left of the okra and tomatoes, if there is any, in small containers and use that in my gumbo during the winter. I don’t put tomatoes in my gumbo but I do save leftover okra and tomatoes to go into gumbo.

Here’s how I make it.

First, I make meatballs. They’re a bit different from the meatballs I use for my spaghetti sauce. For these meatballs, I mix in egg, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, chopped garlic, Cajun Red Head seasoning and one small can of tomato sauce. I brown the meatballs, then set them aside.

In the same pot, I add about 2 pounds of sliced okra. If there’s a lot of fat from the meat, I don’t add any extra oil but if it looks like it needs it, I’ll add olive oil or any kind of oil just to keep it from sticking.

Cook the okra on low to low/medium, stirring often til it is no longer slimey.

Add chopped onions, celery, bell pepper and jalapeno if you wish – just however much of each one you want. No rules.

Season it with more cajun spices, salt and pepper. Be careful with salt as some of the cajun seasoning has a lot of salt. Cajun Red Head doesn’t have so much. Stir all the seasoning in.

Add the tomatoes. I used fresh and I used probably a few more tomatoes than okra. I didn’t measure and it’s up to you. I would say I used 2 pounds of okra and about 3 pounds of tomatoes – maybe more. What you see in the picture is one bowl of tomatoes but I actually used two bowls and they were big cereal bowls.

Stir the tomatoes in. This is the point where I want to take the pot and eat it all . . just like it is right there in that picture!

Let it simmer a bit on low to low/medium, stirring because it’s easy to scorch.

Add the meatballs. Gently stir – the meatballs are fragile or at least mine are. Cover the pot and lt it simmer really low for an hour or so.

That’s it . . place cooked rice in a bowl and top with the meatballs, okra and tomatoes.