Briam

I love one dish meals with lots of vegetables. The countries of the Middle East and North Africa are a great source of such recipes, but this one hails from Greece, although Turkey may claim this flavourful stew too.

Briam is a dish that is definitely more than the sum of its parts. It's basically sliced vegetables layered into a casserole dish with fresh dill, garlic, and salt and pepper, but the flavours meld together in a way that is hard to describe. The vegetables can be varied as can the herb. If you prefer to use basil, marjoram, or oregano, or something else, that would work too. But I think dill is the best, and I like to add crumbled feta to it to make it a complete meal.

This makes enough to serve 2-3 people, so double or triple it for more people. You may have to adjust the cooking time. The layers of vegetables should be 10 cm / 4 inches at most

Feel free to substitute vegetables, such as zucchini or sweet peppers for aubergine or sweet potato. Or use any vegetables that are in season. This is just my favourite combination.

1 medium potato, sliced to 1/2 cm

2 tomatoes, sliced to 1/2 cm
2 more tomatoes, skinned and crushed (or use some canned tomatoes)

1 medium onion, sliced to 1/2 cm

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

1 baby aubergine, slice to 1 cm

1 small sweet potato, sliced to 1/2 cm

2-3 tablespoons fresh dill, finely chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons water or tomato juice

100 trams of feta cheese, crumbled

1. Preheat the oven to 190C / 375F
2. In 2 litter casserole dish that is at least 4 inches high, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil.
3. Spread all the sliced potato in the bottom. 
4. Add half the sliced tomatoes, 1 sliced garlic clove, and a tablespoon of chopped dill. Season with some salt and pepper.
5. Add a layer of 1/2 the eggplant slices, followed by half the sweet potato slices. Season with some salt and pepper.
6. Repeat the layers of tomatoes, onions, garlic, dill, aubergine, and sweet potato, and seasoning. Tuck in the remaining garlic clove slices.
7. Mix the crushed tomatoes with the remaining olive oil and the water, then pour over the vegetables.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes, and then crumble the feta cheese over the top.
9. Return to the oven and be for another 15-20 minutes. The vegetables should be completely done and tender.
10. Serve with some good bread to sop up the juices, or with some rice.

Greek Onion-Leek Pie

Last  week I saw a recipe in my daily paper for a onion, leek and feta pie. It sounded really appealing, and it did turn out to be very tasty. The original recipe called for phyllo pastry, but my local Turkish greengrocer didn't have it so I used something similar that they did have. The pastry leaves are less thin and fine but also don't dry out as quickly. You also don't need to use as many layers (2 on the bottom, 2 on the top.)


I think I didn't put quite enough dill in the filling. It really can stand a lot. I also think that this recipe could  do well with one or two eggs added. I reduced the recipe by about one third, but it still ended up being enough for 4-6 servings.


Update: I've now made this recipe a number of times. I've used oval, square, and round dishes, I've made self-contained packets, I've used phyllo dough instead of yufka dejblade (as it's called). I've adopted Kaye's tip of sprinkling sesame seeds between the dough layers. It always works. 

Greek Onion-Leek Pie

10 leaves phyllo pastry
olive oil
2 large onions
2 large leeks
4 green onions
salt and pepper
200 grams of feta cheese
6-8 tablespoons of fresh dill, chopped
3-4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons sesame seed

1. Cut the onions in half and slice them thinly. Slice the leeks in rings, including as much of the green as is tender. Slice the green onions in rings. Sauté the onions in the olive oil at medium heat until translucent.
2. Add the leeks, green onions, and salt and cook until tender. Turn the heat down to medium low and add a bit of water if the vegetables threaten to turn brown. Let them drain in a colander.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 F. 
4. Crumble the feta cheese, and mix in a bowl with the vegetables, chopped dill, and breadcrumbs. Add salt and pepper to taste (I like lots of pepper!)
5. Grease a square or oval casserole or baking pan with olive oil. 
6. Working with 1 leaf of phyllo dough at a time, use a pastry brush to lightly oil each leaf with olive oil. Lay 5 oiled leaves in the bottom of the casserole, with the leaves overhanging the sides. 
7. Spoon in the onion-leek-feta filling, smoothing it out. Fold the overhanging phyllo leaves over the filling, and lay the remaining phyllo leaves over top. Tuck the overhanging edges under, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
8. Bake for about 40 minutes until golden brown.