All those summer vegetables in one dish

 

Vegetables ready to go into Briam

I’ve forgotten where I first heard of a dish called Briam, but I thought it an odd name. Turns out it’s an easy and quick traditional Greek dish—and you know how wonderfully the Greek people treat vegetables. This is literally vegetables roasted in olive oil. Years ago, the dish was made with potatoes and zucchini, but somewhere along the way someone added tomatoes and someone else red bell pepper.

The recipe I followed was from America’s Test Kitchen and included red bell pepper. Bell peppers, in fact most any peppers, are among the few vegetables on my never-ever list, so I omitted it. Since this is a layered dish, that meant I omitted an entire layer, and that messed up the seasoning amounts. So I recreated it on my own. Here’s what I did:

Briam

1 lb. potato, golden Yukon, cooked and sliced thin

½ cup good olive oil, divided use

3-4 garlic cloves, minced

Salt and pepper

½ medium red onion sliced

Dried oregano

           Note: recipe called for 1 tsp. I just sprinkled on layers and got too much, so you should measure before you sprinkle.

1 small zucchini, sliced

2 large tomatoes, sliced

½ red bell pepper, optional

Slice vegetables about the same thickness, so that they will cook evenly. Place potatoes, salt, pepper, ½ the olive oil, and garlic in a roasting pan and toss to be sure everything is well covered. Spread out flat as the bottom layer.

Top with onion and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and oregano. (If you are using bell pepper, make two separate layers of onion with the bell pepper layer in between.)

Add layer of zucchini and top with layer of tomatoes, overlapping. The entire surface of the dish should be covered with tomato slices, and vegetables should be snugly nested against each other.

Pour remaining olive oil over dish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Cover dish loosely with foil, leaving room for steam to escape. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 40 to 50 minutes. Let rest for at least 20 minutes before serving. Room temperature is fine. When cool, embellish with chopped parsley. Serve in soup plates if you have them.

Traditionally, this is served with a slice of feta on the side and crusty baguette slices for sopping up the juice. I didn’t have feta, so I sprinkled the casserole with grated pecorino for the last fifteen minutes of baking. I think the feta would have been much better.