Roasted Okra with Za’atar

Slender, elegantly formed okra pods in green and deep burgundy arrive in droves at my greenmarket around August. Nicknamed “ladies’ fingers”—though with their pointy tips, they are more like fingernails of some Amazonian Cruella De Vil—the quick-growing vegetable is well-loved by Middle Eastern Jews, who often serve it for the fall holidays, generally stewed slowly with meat or other vegetables and flavored with tomato. But I confess that with all the bad press about its potentially mucilag