Community chef and restaurateur Millie Peartree began cooking at a very young age. Inspired by her mother and time spent visiting relatives in the South, Millie crafted her own take on the classic soul food favorites of her childhood. 

Millie Peartree

Learn how to prepare classic soul food recipes with chef Millie Peartree.

A Chef’s Guide to Soul Food

Discover how to prepare both fried green tomatoes and okra as Millie reveals how you can cook these delicious side dishes at the same time

Course: Guide to Soul Food 105 Fried Okra and Green Tomatoes

Fried Okra and Fried Green Tomatoes

Fried green tomatoes are delicious, but fried okra, well that’s a dish that is close to my heart.  I grew up eating fried okra, so these are two delicious items that you can prepare at the same time. I’m excited to share this recipe, so you can make them at home. Green tomatoes and okra are both seasonal ingredients. If frying okra out of season, you can use frozen okra that’s been thawed.

Millie Peartree's Fried Okra and Fried Green Tomatoes

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Do you like happiness? If you don’t, then this recipe isn’t for you. But if you do, then let’s make my macaroni and cheese together. This is the dish that put me on the map. It’s the one everyone talks about and the one that every person who comes over for dinner begs me to make. And the beauty is, it’s so simple. You’ll have friends begging you for this recipe.

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I love a one-pot meal that also feels extra-special, and paella makes that kind of meal. This Spanish dish of rice, vegetables and meat or seafood packs flavor and simplicity into one skillet. A large pan of paella is festive, colorful and serves a crowd — it’s just right for a celebratory dinner with friends and family. Making the vegetable-and-aromatic sofrito is a key step in cooking paella and acts as the dish’s flavor base. I like a combination of mussels, shrimp and lobster tails in the seafood version of the dish, but you can easily tailor it to your favorite types of seafood.

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You will see in my recipes that I use the same levain build, or a slightly modified version of it, when I mix bread. Whether the final bread is enriched, sweet, or rustic, I find this levain build to work just fine. There are many, many ways to build a levain but I believe using this one build makes life at home easy.