Again, I was inspired by the really fresh food found at the farmers’ market last weekend–this time it was okra.  Last summer at the 4th Annual Farm & Food Leadership Conference in Austin, lunch, prepared by local chefs with local food, included chicken with okra.  Well, I don’t have their recipe but I did like the combination, so I came up with my own.

As you can see, I didn’t get my photo quick enough this time, some of it was already on plates when I got out my camera.

Here’s the recipe:

1 pound small to medium okra, sliced lengthwise (farmers’ market)
3 pounds chicken pieces, or one whole chicken, cut up (organic chicken drumsticks)
2 cans organic tomatoes with chilis (Muir Glen)
1 organic onion, chopped
1 teaspoon organic chili powder (Frontier)
organic olive oil (Central Market)
sea salt (Celtic Sea Salt)
organic black pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Wash and pat dry chicken pieces.  Put the chicken in a large baking dish.  Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Combine okra, tomatoes & chilis, chopped onion, and chili powder in a large bowl.  Pour/spread over the chicken in the baking dish.  Bake for about one hour.

This recipe was just an experiment, but my family said it was a “keeper.”

By the way, the 4th Annual Farm & Food Leadership Conference, sponsored by the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, was very good last year.  My husband and I learned a lot about Real Food topics such as GMOs, problems for small farmers, and Texas legislature bills.  The 5th annual conference will be in San Antonio, September 12-13.  The Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance website conference page has all the information.