HIBACHI FLAVORED ZUCCHINI SAUTE

Serves 2

Ingredients:
4 C. Zucchini, or other summer squash cut into uniform ¼ inch slices.
2 scallions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
2 teas. Flavorless vegetable oil like peanut or safflower.
Sprinkling of salt
Sesame seeds for garnish
 
SAUCE:
2 TB. High quality Soy sauce or Tamari
1 TB fresh squeezed lemon juice 
1 teas. Toasted Sesame oil
2 TB cold water
2 TB cold butter
 
Instructions:
This preparation goes super-fast! So have all your preparation done before you start!
-Assemble the sauce ingredients in advance in a small bowl.

-Choose a large skillet (12” diameter) or a wok for the sauté. To get a nice sear on the zucchini, you don’t want to crowd the pan--so a lot of surface area is necessary.

-Heat your skillet/wok over high heat on the hottest burner of your stove. Add the vegetable oil and tilt the pan so the entire bottom has a fine coating of oil. As the oil begins to give off a slight amount of smoke, dump in all your zucchini and onions at once, give them a quick stir and spread them out so most of them have contact with the bottom of the pan. 

-Lightly sprinkle some salt over this mixture and allow to sear, untouched for about 1-1 ½ minutes. (This will allow the zucchini to caramelize a little). Now give the zucchini another good stir, spreading them out again and giving them another 1-1 ½ minutes to cook undisturbed. 

-Now, add the sauce mixture all at once. Stir to coat everything--then turn off the heat and continue stirring till the butter has completely melted and emulsified, creating a lovely, silky, brown sauce. 
Sprinkle with sesame seeds as a garnish. Serve immediately. This preparation is delicious as is or over steamed rice.

SHRIMP SAUTE VARIATION:
You can turn this into a delicious shrimp stir fry simply by substituting 1 cup raw, peeled-deveined shrimp for 1 cup of zucchini. Heat the pan with the oil and add the shrimp first, sautéing for 1 minute before you add the zucchini and onion. Continue with the rest of the recipe as written.