Laziness is delicious -or Za'atar spiced grilled zucchini and faux aioli sandwiches

Around this time of year some of you start complaining about how much squash you have. I was hoping to be one of them too. But, my garden is suffering a bit. I ruined it. But, let's not dwell on that shall we?

There is plenty of squash popping up at the farmers market to keep me satisfecho. And there is still plenty of time for eating it and trying new recipes before you get so tired of it you just want to throw it straight into the compost.

I think I mentioned the stove-top grilling pan for the tofu a few weeks back. This pan is a new found summer favorite for me. I love the perfect dark black lines it leaves, the way it makes everything crispy on the inside and crunchy on the outside, and most of all I love how gosh darn easy it is.

This recipe calls for za'atar spice. If you are curious about it you can read about it over here at Wikipedia. Basically, it is a middle eastern spice mixture with any range of spices, but most commonly it has marjoram, thyme, oregano, sesame seeds, and salt. It is delicious. Usually, I mix it with olive oil and bake it on some bread with goat cheese and tomato's. But, this time I had zucchini to eat and was too lazy to think up some sort of marinade or spice mixture. So, I threw in some za'atar spice and grilled away. Sometimes, laziness is delicious.

Za'atar spiced grilled zucchini sandwiches with caramelized onions and Faux aioli
serves 2-3

Two zucchinis, sliced on the diagonal or lengthwise if you're handy with the knives
2 Tbs. olive or canola oil
2-4 Tbs. za'atar spice
other sandwich fixin's ( I used lettuce, tomato, and cucumber)
3 Pita's, cut in half and toasted just before assembly
2 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced
1 Tbs. butter

Heat up your grilling pan to a med-high heat. Heat the butter in a non-stick frying pan over low heat. While it heats up, mix together the zucchini slices, oil, and za'atar spice and slice your onions.

Once the butter has melted, but not started to turn brown, add the onions and continue to cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for about 20 minutes. You will know they are done when they are translucent, light brown, and have a very sugary taste to them rather than the typical pungent, biting taste of onions.

While your onions are cooking, place zucchini slices onto the grilling pan and let them grill until the black lines form on the bottom. About 5-8 minutes. Then flip them to until the black lines form on the other side. It will take less time on the second side. Remove them from the pan and let them cool on either a paper towel or wire rack while you cook the rest.

Faux Aioli

I looked up a lot of recipes online. While many of them are surely better they all took more time and effort than I was willing to spend. This recipe uses Nasoya because that is what I have here (and I hate mayonnaise) but I am sure regular mayonnaise or whatever mayonnaise substitute you have will work fine.

1/4 c. Nasoya
1 small clove garlic, pressed through a garlic press or finely minced
1 squeeze of half a lemon 1-2 Tbs. olive oil

Mix together the first three ingredients. Then add the olive oil and mix it up. Nasoya has a tendency to be a bit lumpy, but this will make it smooth. If you are using real mayonnaise, give it a taste before you add the olive oil to see if it needs to be thinned a bit.

Once you are done with the zucchini and faux aioli, toast your pitas, then make those sammies! I also ate some sweet potato fries on the side, cause otherwise this would be way too healthy.

Before grilling.



During.


After. Yum.

P.S. I will look for places you can find za'atar online if you don't have a middle eastern market in your home town. Or, perhaps I will look for and experiment with some recipes to make it at home.