Okra with Potential to be a Classic

The recipe should be a classic. As an okra lover, I'm always looking for something new, but never came up with preparations that tantalized more than the Oven-Roasted Okra we featured on March 9, 2006, or this one

Okra is in high season now. The smaller pods that measure less than 2 1/2 inches are best, and they're easy to find. Bearing the humble title "Baked Okra," the above pictured recipe appeared in the New York Times sometime before the 1978 publication of Raymond A. Sokolov's Great Recipes from the New York Times. Although a staple at our house, I've never encountered it anywhere else. Lost in time, perhaps, and if so, worthy of return.

BAKED OKRA

1 tablespoon bacon drippings

1 pound fresh okra, washed and sliced---go for very fresh small pods

1 large onion chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

salt

pepper

4 strips bacon, cut in half

Cook the bacon in a skillet until it has rendered a tablespoon of drippings. Remove bacon and cook the okra, onion, and green pepper in the bacon fat over moderate to high heat, stirring constantly for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper and turn into a 9 inch pie plate or small casserole. Bake 15 minutes. Arrange the bacon slices like the spokes of a wheel on top of the okra mixture and bake 15 minutes longer or until okra is tender and bacon crisp.

from Great Recipes from the New York Times, Copyright 1978 by Raymond A. Sokolov, published by Weathervane Books