Thursday, July 20, 2017

Okra and Tomatoes with Ground Beef - A One Pot Meal

This is really a fast one, all things considered.  If you want it to go really fast, find yourself some tender baby okra.  You can use any ground meat you like.  Mamaw always used beef.  It was what we had in south east Texas in the 70s.  Also, Mamaw used tomato sauce and crushed tomatoes.  We didn't have them fancy fire roasted things when I was a girl.

1 lb ground beef
2 cans fire roasted tomatoes (Muir Glen is best)
1 small jar of your favorite low sugar spaghetti sauce
1 lb okra, cut into 1/4 inch rounds
1 medium onion
1 large green bell pepper
At least 3 cloves of garlic (or more, go crazy)
Vegetable and/or beef broth (Or, do yourself a favor and buy some Better Than Bullion in Beef and Vegetable varieties. Then mix that up to use instead of broth. If you have nothing, use water with a little soy sauce in it.)
2 tsp paprika
1/4 to 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper powder
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

Brown your ground beef.  Season with a little salt and pepper.  Be sure to account for the salt in any broth you will be adding later.  You can always add more, but you can't take it out.  If there is a lot of water in your beef, drain it off or reduce it.  Drain off excess fat as you like.

Once your beef is browned, put in your onions and bell pepper.  Cook those till the onions are translucent and then add your garlic.  Cook for one or two minutes more.

Add the spices and toast them up with the dry-ish mixture in your pan for about a minute or so.

Add the spaghetti sauce and tomatoes.  Stir everything together well.

Add the Okra.  Stir again and if it looks like you need to add more liquid, this is where you add the broth.  You're looking for liquid enough to be at the top of the food in the pan.  A little bit more is fine, you can always reduce the liquid.  The okra will thicken your sauce as well.

Simmer the mixture on medium high heat, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking.

The dish is ready when your sauce has married and the okra is soft and tasty.

You can serve it over brown and wild rice or on top of noodles.  We always just ate it plain.