Cajun Style Corn & Tomato with Fried Okra Warm Salad

 Continuing with my month of salads, I am foraging through my refrigerator.  This recipe assumes a ripe tomato but I only have a green one and  I have a jar of home canned okra.  This salad is a take-off of a popular southern side dish.

The fried okra are like the croutons.  They were great.  Be sure to rinse very well because okra is slimy.  Overall, however, it is not a salad that I would make again.  Is there a rule that we can only post our successes???

 Warm Salad of Cajun-Style Corn and Tomato with Fried Okra               Serves 2

1/2 onion, sliced thin

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon vegetable oil plus additional for frying the okra

1 cups fresh corn kernels including the pulp scraped from the cobs (cut from about 1 ear of corn)

1 tomato, seeded and chopped

1/2 c shredded baked ham

2-3T water

1 c okra, rinsed well, patted dry
1 egg, slightly beaten

cornmeal seasoned with salt and pepper for coating the okra

In a heavy saucepan cook the onion in the butter and 1 tablespoon of the oil over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until it is golden, add the corn, the tomato, shredded ham and water, and cook the mixture, covered, over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.  Season the mixture with salt and pepper and cool to room temperature.

Cut the okra into 1/4-inch-thick slices, dip in beaten egg then in a bowl toss it with the seasoned cornmeal, and shake it in a coarse sieve to remove the excess cornmeal. In a deep skillet heat 1/2 inch of the additional oil over moderately high heat until it is hot but not smoking and in it fry the okra in batches for 1 to 2 minutes, or until it is golden, transferring it with a slotted spoon as it is fried to paper towels to drain. Serve the corn mixture topped with the fried okra.  Serve with a biscuit.