Briam – traditional Greek roasted vegetable bake

This is a healthy and delicious oven roasted vegetable dish. My auntie Eleni, from my maternal side, made this regularly during lent. My Orthodox religion calls for fasting for 40 days during the liturgical season (Easter), we must abstain from meat, eggs, dairy, and the final week we are not to eat fish either. To be honest, it was a stressful time, most of us kids didn’t understand, we were expected to follow with the traditions that our immigrant parents had retained from their motherland. What I do remember is, how good this tasted, extra virgin olive oil makes everything taste good, I might be biased due to having it all my life, but those who know me, would vouch that if I could bathe in it…I would!

Briam, pronounced Bree – yum (in Greek), the name however stems from the Turkish – Persian word Biryani, which means roasted food (don’t tell a Greek that though!), also an Indian rice dish but basically it’s baked vegetables, mainly zucchini, potatoes, eggplant + red onion with fresh garlic, evoo, fresh parsley, dill and mint along with some really good dried oregano, I add sweet potato for colour and texture. It’s cooked in a very light tomato sauce and goes well with any protein.

These days, I do my best to continue with the traditions that I grew up with, I may not adhere to the 40 days of fasting, more like the week before and in honour of my auntie Eleni, that’s when this recipe that has been passed down through the generations of our family comes to visit and then stays for the winter season. This is one of those dishes that I call “peasant food”, a simplistic way of eating, with a focus on “eat from what you grow”, my parents still eat this way, they are both 80. My father continues to grow as much as he can handle and it’s always seasonal. I just love the colours of this dish, it can be a luscious vegan dish or an easy side dish to serve with grilled chicken or a juicy steak.

Briam

Celsius & Co. Admin

Traditional Greek oven roasted vegetables, eggplant, zucchini, potatoes and onion.

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Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 55 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Greek

Servings 6

Equipment

• 1 Tapsi // Large round aluminium tray or any metal baking dish that you prefer

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 small eggplant, sliced into 1cm discs and quartered
• 2 small zucchini's, sliced into 1cm discs
• 2 dutch cream long potatoes sliced as above
• 1 medium red onion sliced as above
• 1 medium sweet potato, sliced as above
• 1 cup chopped fresh dill, continental parsley and mint
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped fine
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil + a little extra for drizzling
• 1 tblsp salt flakes or to taste – I use Murray River Pink salt flakes in all of my cooking
• 2 good pinches of dried oregano
• 1 cup *tomato passata
• 1/2 cup vegetable stock, I use Massel brand

Instructions

 

• Once the vegetables have been prepared, combine in a large bowl; zucchini, eggplant, potatoes(both), then add the oil, garlic, all the herbs, salt and oregano, mix well to combine.

  2. Mix the stock and the passata together.

  3. In a large baking dish, pour the tomato mixture on the base and arrange the vegetables to your liking. Once arranged, take the onion and place in between the vegetables, trying to keep the rings all in one piece.

  4. Drizzle with some extra olive oil, cover the entire dish with foil and bake for 45-50mins at 190’C // 347' F

  5. Remove the foil, reduce heat to 170’C and continue to cook for a further 30-40 mins or until browned on top and most of the liquid has reduced. Baste with the juices during the the second cook once the foil has been removed.

  Perfect as is with feta + crusty bread, or it can be served as a side dish with any protein.

Notes

*Passata is simply sieved tomatoes, which has a smooth, sauce like consistency. Tomato paste can be used instead of passata, dilute 2tbls in 1 cup of boiling water

I used two different zucchini’s ; the dark green ones and the small “Magda” white baby zucchini’s

You can add chilli or black pepper if you like, I don’t favour either!

The sweet potato is not traditional to the dish, I added it for color + variation

Enjoy….. Kalioreksi 

Keyword greek tray bake, greek vegetables, greek veggies

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