I finally wanted some Okra and I couldn't find it

I made the Three Sisters Stew with Okra and Leeks from Berley's Fresh Food Fast without the okra (page 105). I have never gone looking for okra so I didn't know it was hard to find. Berley notes in the intro to the recipe that you should make the recipe even if you can't find okra and I agree.


While this was cooking I made up some Spicy Summer Bean and Chickpea Salad with Harissa Vinaigrette from the same cookbook (page 125). I was planning for this to be for lunch the next day but it was so good we decided to have some with dinner. We were glad to have it also to have some variety of texture to the meal.

On the stew I left out the butter and the olive oil in the cooking and the sour cream in the garnish. This means we ate a soup of nothing but vegetables, water, and salt. It was excellent. I am going to guess it is the leeks that create the decent broth but the ripeness of the vegetables that carry it the rest of the way. If you can get the vegetables, I suggest making it tonight. In a month you may have missed your opportunity. The chopping on this is not to bad since most of the items remain large. I chopped as I cooked to save time.

On the beans I used 2 Tbsp of lemon juice instead of the 3 since I left out the olive oil. I also only used 1/4 tsp of cayenne pepper. Maybe I will try a little more next time. We found that the chickpeas could use a little salt. Trimming the beans is the biggest time on this recipe.