Grilled Okra with Garlic Vinaigrette

Servings: 4-6 (as a side)

Source: Culinary Vegetable Institute

Ingredients:

• 1lb Okra, washed
• 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 4-6 cloves of garlic, micro planed into a pulp or finely minced
• Zest of 3 lemons
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 Envelope of Micro Herbs or Micro Greens.
• 1 tsp Salt and more to taste
• 10 - 16 Soaked Wooden Skewers

Directions:

• Preheat a grill pan, outdoor grill, broiler, or other preferred method of cooking the okra in advance of the cooking.
• In a small saucepan combine the minced garlic, and olive oil.
• On medium heat, warm the oil until the garlic begins to bubble and the mixture begins to simmer before removing the pot from the heat and allowing it to rest for 2 minutes before the procedure is repeated.
• After the second resting period, add the lemon juice and zest, and 1 tsp of kosher salt. Stir to combine. (if using micro herbs, chop them and add them to the vinaigrette at this point.)
• Skewer the Okra in preparation for cooking. *Note - At the Vegetable Institute, we opted to sort the okra by size so that we could cook similarly sized pieces together. We also used 2 skewers so that the okra was more easily turned on the grill.
• Cook the Okra on your grill (or preferred high heat method) without the use of any oil. Dry heat and clean flavor is the goal here.
• After a couple minutes per side, remove the okra to a serving tray and while it is warm, sauce it generously with the garlic vinaigrette and finish with a sprinkling of salt.