Grilled Vegetable Sandwich with Lemon Herb Sauce....

It sure is hot today, the heat advisory says it could reach anywhere from 105'F (40.5'C) to 110'F (43.3'C), right now it’s about 101'F (38.3'C). If it were to reach 110'F that would be record breaking for the Midwest! And yet there are still people out there who deny the existence of climate change, and the rise in extreme weather patterns. It boggles the mind! But that’s another post altogether, today I wanted to share a simple yet delicious recipe. Yesterday was slightly cooler with a high of 100'F (37.7'C) and the kind of balmy humidity that could suffocate a person. Heat I can do, but humidity kills me. Having grown up in a relatively temperate climate I just can’t get used to the stagnant, sizzling summers of the Midwest. During these extreme heat waves even though I live in a house where I’m privileged enough to have air-conditioning I just can’t justify using the stove top or the oven, not at least for very long. In this kind of blistering heat I don’t even want to eat cooked food most of the time, or if I do want to, I don’t want it to be piping hot. This is the kind of weather that brings a lot of fresh fruit to my plate, and a lot of salads, sandwiches, living foods, lightly steamed foods, and grilled foods.

Yesterday I found myself craving a grilled vegetable sandwich, and some potato salad, and so I whipped this sandwich up to go alongside the Spicy Blue Potato and Corn salad from Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s fantastic book "Appetite for Reduction" Seriously if you do not yet own this book, it is a must have, and if you ever see blue potatoes they too are a must have! Delicious, but the sandwich. At first I wasn’t sure, but after my husband and I messily devoured our overstuffed sandwiches, juice and sauce dripping down our arms I can happily and confidently declare this sandwich a roaring success! The Lemon Herb Sauce was pretty damn delicious as well!

Grilled Vegetable Sandwich with Lemon Herb Sauce

2 Red Peppers Sliced in half and seeded
1 Zucchini ends removed and cut in half width wise. Then each slice, sliced into four lengthwise pieces (You can peel them if you like, but if you’re using organic there is no need)
1 Medium sized Yellow Onion sliced into thick rings
6 Medium sized Cremini Mushrooms, rinsed, dried and stems removed
1 Tomato sliced
Lettuce (Iceberg, Romaine or whatever you have)
Pickles (optional)
2 Long Whole Wheat rolls

2 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tsp Oregano
½ ish tsp crushed Rosemary

1 Batch Lemon Herb Sauce (recipe follows)

- Place your prepared Peppers, Zucchini, and Mushrooms in a sealable container, and drizzle overtop the olive oil, vinegar, oregano and rosemary. Seal container and shake well for about 1 minute until all vegetables are coated. Then leave to rest and soak up the flavor for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. (During that time you can slice the rest of your ingredients, pre-heat your grill, slice your buns, set the table, and make the Lemon Herb Sauce.)

- Take your marinated vegetables along with your un-marinated onions out to your grill. Place your vegetables on the hot grill, peppers skin side down, the rest it doesn’t matter. Grill for about 5-7 minutes over medium heat, flipping once. You know the vegetables are done when you start to see those nice grill marks appearing. The onions and the peppers may take 2-3 minutes longer. Peppers are done when skins are black.

- Remove your vegetables from the grill, and place on a serving platter along with tomato and lettuce. Remove red peppers to a separate bowl and place in the freezer for a couple of minutes until they are cool enough to handle. Once able to handle them remove the charred blackened skins, then slice each pepper half in half again and place onto the serving plate.

- To assemble sandwich spread a layer of lemon herb sauce over one half of your bun, then layer on the red pepper, zucchini, onion, tomato, lettuce, and mushrooms. Drizzle with additional sauce if desired, or spread sauce over other side of bun. (If not using sauce feel free to use any combination of condiments from non-dairy mayo, to mustard, to bbq sauce. Or use the lemon herb sauce with a combination of those as well)

Enjoy, paired with a nice green salad, a potato salad, or some baked sweet potato fries or my sweet Cajun Plantains. The sandwiches are a bit messy I’ll admit, but they are sooo worth it. My husband and I were extremely blissful as we munched away.

Lemon Herb Sauce

1/4 cup packed dill
1/4 cup packed basil
juice of 2 lemons
2-3 tbsp white miso (to taste)
2-4 tbsp olive oil (to taste)
1-2 tsp agave (to taste)
water as needed (to dilute, to taste)
1-2 garlic cloves
sea salt and black pepper to taste

- Place lemon juice, 1 tbsp white miso, 1 tsp agave, garlic cloves, 2 tbsp olive oil, and fresh herbs in highspeed blender and blend on high until everything is well combined. Taste for seasoning, add black pepper and sea salt.

*** Note - The lemon flavor might be very strong at this point, which is why most of the seasonings are to taste. If you’re looking for a less tart flavor add in remaining olive oil, miso, agave, and a several tbsp of water to dilute and mellow out the sauce. Even with the additional ingredients you might think it a bit tart, but it really does pair beautifully with the grilled vegetables, so give it a try, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.***