I have to level with you - I'm not a vegetarian, not even close. If it has a face, I eat it. If it's cute, furry, tasty - yep, you guessed it - I eat it. So posting to this blog hasn't been the easiest thing for me to do. I think I am going to go a bit easier on myself. If I cook something wonderful, yummy, easy; something I absolutely have to share, I am going to post it. I will leave the vegetable purism to my ever-faithful meat abstentious co-blogger, Mindy. Don't get me wrong, we encounter a lot of vegetables in our house. I believe in eating well and balanced and in supporting local farms. So I will still be able to share items that vegetarians can cook and eat. Like this one - the most fantastic way I've ever encountered to eat zucchini; because if I levelled with you about that - I hate zucchini.
1 lb. zucchini, sliced lengthwise into quarter-inch widths
2 red peppers, halved and seeded
3 1/2 oz. feta
5 Tbs. olive oil
salt
DRESSING - all ingredients for the dressing should be finely chopped, but if that doesn't happen it all works out okay
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbs. chopped mint
honey
lemon juice
1 red onion, medium dice
Toss the zucchini slices in olive oil, salt and pepper. They can be grilled outside on a gas grill or in a cast-iron grill pan on the stove. Cook the zucchini through and set them aside.
Place the red peppers on an aluminum foil lined sheet pan, cut-side down and roast in a hot oven - about 400 F until they are cooked; about 25 minutes. Remove them from the oven and cover them to allow the skins to steam off. You can simply wrap them in the aluminum foil you used to line the sheet pan or transfer them to a bowl and lay a towel on top. They can take ten to fifteen minutes to steam. When ready simply rub the skins off then cut each half pepper into eighths and combine with the zucchini and set aside.
Put the garlic, mint, lemon and honey into a large bowl and whisk until smooth. Still whisking, pour in the oil in a thin stream. The dressing will emulsify and thicken. Season it to taste with salt and pepper then add the red onion. I would recommend going easy on the salt because the zucchini is already seasoned and you will add feta to the salad at the end.
Toss the roasted pepper and zucchini in the dressing and place everything into a shallow baking dish. Cover the top of the salad with crumbled feta and place under a low broiler for five minutes or less. Watch the salad carefully at this point as it doesn't take long to brown. The salad should be sizzling and patches of feta should be lovely and golden.
Enjoy!
