Briam - a Vegetable Bake

Briam is a Greek vegetable dish which we loved on many holidays and often recreated from memory once we were home. But it is couple of years since we have been there and so I researched the recipe on the net to get the authentic version. I found lots of recipes for it, all different; you can make it  with tomato sauce, with wine, with varying vegetables and by different methods. So I went back to memory. This is a good example of a recipe as an idea, not a formula. It is also very good tempered. You could cook it faster or slower. It will wait too. The doorbell went as it was finishing and so we ate it 30 minutes or more late when it was only warm, just how the Greeks would eat it.


The result was delicious, easy - and used up some of our continuing courgette glut.
You can vary the veg, put in a pepper and or aubergine; to save cooking time you could par boil the potatoes first. For the Greekness you must have olive oil, the cooking kind, and herbs. To have it as a main course, the obvious way to top it would be with feta but we only had cheddar so I used that. This is a cheap eat with endless possibilities.

Briam - Greek vegetable bake

For generous portions for 2 plus seconds, I used:

6 medium potatoes
2 courgettes
1 medium onion
10 cherry tomatoes
1 fat clove garlic
olive oil
fresh thyme and marjoram - but use what you have or dried oregano and mixed herbs

1. Thinly slice all the veg. Grate the garlic.
2. Layer them quite loosely in an oven dish, sprinkling with oil and herbs as you go.
3. Add half a glass of water or just enough to come a little way up the veg.
4. Finish with a layer of either courgette or potato.
5. Cover with foil and cook in a medium oven at No 4/5 for an hour.
6. Check if the potatoes are cooked and give it longer if they are still tough. Most of the water should have gone.
7. Add a layer of grated cheese once the veg are all soft, take the foil off and give it another 20 minutes till you get a lovely golden crust. If you use feta, crumble it on and give it about 10 minutes at the most to soften. Eat hot or warm.