C’est une situation très grave. The final piece of the renovation of the soon-to-be-world-famous Serendipity Farmhouse Test Kitchen was to have taken place yesterday. But that did not happen. Non, instead, two days ago the vendor called to inform us that the new electric stove had not yet arrived at the warehouse. The delivery date is now uncertain, but certainly no sooner than this coming Wednesday. – – There was indeed a mood of great disappointment amongst the members of the highly dedicated SFH TK staff.

But I, the indomitable Pierre LeChat, was able to restore the spirits of the staff and renew their sense of mission. And I was able to do that with the help of recourse to the SFH TK secret ingredient – ‘serendipity‘. In this case it was the ‘serendipity‘ of ‘Windfall Okra’. – And you might ask, just what is ‘Windfall Okra’?

Mon amis, in this case, ‘Windfall Okra’ is the unexpected ringing of the telephone with the news of a serendipitous event. And that event was that a class at the Rappahannock County High School had planted okra earlier this year and the okra was ready for harvest – ready for harvest, but no one really knew what to do with that harvest. The caller, however, knew that the SFH TK was always willing to take in any stray or unwanted harvest and turn it into a gastronomic delight. (Perhaps this blog should refer to itself as a “Homeless Harvest Rescue Site”.)

Within minutes, the homeless harvest found itself in the safety and security of the caring hands of the Test Kitchen staff. I immediately devised a plan to transform this abandoned okra into a gourmet snack – it would soon become crunchy pickled okra for snacks and dinner side dishes. (See the recipe we used below.)

It will be a week or so before we perform a taste test. We suspect that this will be a test with mixed results. Pourquoi? The poor abandoned okra pods we received were somewhat past their prime (6-7 inches). When okra pods grow beyond 3-4 inches in length, they tend to become stringy and fibrous. We anticipate that some of our crunchy, pickled okra will be well beyond crunchy. If that is the case, then we will let the neighborhood dogs use them for chewing exercise. I, for one, am quite hopeful though that ‘serendipity‘ will continue to prevail, and that at least some pickled okra will become the tasty and crunchy delight for which we hope.

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