Greek Style Smothered Okra

Oil spray a heavy, 10- to 14-inch cast-iron skillet, one that has a tight fitting cover. Place on very low heat. Add olive oil, garlic, and okra. In contrast to most sautes, the okra gets added when neither pan, nor oil, nor garlic, is yet hot. Scatter tomato over the okra.

Still keeping heat very low, let okra just cook, uncovered, for about 10 minutes. Do not stir. Then cover, and let cook for 20 to 30 minutes more. Keep on not stirring. Make sure heat is low enough so nothing is burning. If you like, you can kind of push a few of the pods back to make sure the garlic on the bottom is not burning, merely cooking, very very slowly.

After 30 minutes, lift lid. Stir cautiously, just a few times the okra should be quite tender, soft and sort of golden brownish. In stirring, you want to break it up as little as possible, rather just recombine the ingredients, though it is likely that a few pods will split if they have not already done so.

Turn off heat. Salt and pepper the okra, sprinkle with cayenne and dill, stir one more time and serve. Serve the whole pods. Those dining can either cut off the stems at the top of the pods themselves (with a fork and knife), or pick them up by the stems and nibble their way down, or even eat the stems, firmer, of course, than the tender pod, but edible and tasty.

This recipe yields 4 to 6 servings.