Healthy Vegan - Briam - Easy Greek Vegetable Bake

This Greek Vegetable Bake is known as Briam.  Briam  is one of those dishes my Greek flat-mates at University used make and eat after a long day at lectures and tutorials.   

In fact, it was not my Greek flat mates that introduced this Briam or Moussaka, but another Greek girl staying two floors down that frequented the lads, she realised I was vegetarian and one day brought some over for me to try.  It was delicious and she told me how to make it and I thought, well that is easy.   It is also one of the reasons I veered towards making it last week during the working week, straight after work.   

Briam is Greek, but there is also a Turkish version called Turlu. or Tourlou Tourlou.   Briam and Turlus are both often described as a Baked Ratatouille. 

The other reason for making this Briam - Greek Vegetable Bake is that I have an abundance of courgettes and I also had some green peppers.  I am not always that creative with green peppers, so am always looking for ways to cook and eat them.

So I chopped all the veg, placed it in the oven thinking it would be ready to eat in less than an hour, when in fact it took almost 1 1/2 hours.  I waited.  And waited some more.  It took ages to make.  It was my mistake, I chopped the potatoes way too thick. 

I would make Briam again as it was very enjoyable and very delicious, I loved how the potatoes fell apart, after being cooked properly, but perhaps not after work; or if I did I would ensure I chopped the potatoes down to size to cook at the same speed as the other vegetables. So I am giving you fair warning, if you make this, please do ensure you cut the potatoes down to size and then it is a super easy dish to make at home.

I am sharing the Sweet Potato Rosemary Scones with Family Friends and Food  and Utterly Scrummy for One Potato, Two Potato challenge.

Easy Briam Greek  Vegetable Bake

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 potatoes, peeled and sliced into rounds

2 courgettes, sliced in chunks

1 large aubergine, sliced in half, then cut into chunks

1 green peppers, cored and chopped into chunks

1 red onions, peeled and sliced into wedges

2 large tomatoes, quartered

4 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced in half
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

1 teaspoons dried oregano

60 ml olive oil

250 ml vegetable stock

Salt and pepper to taste

Optional: 100grams feta cheese

Method

Place all the ingredients, except for the optional feta cheese in a large oven dish with lid and bake in a oven at 180oc/Gas mark 4.

After 45 minutes, remove dish from the oven and press the vegetables down into the liquid with the back of a wooden spoon.

Increase the heat to 200oc/Gas mark5 and bake for a further 30 minutes, until most of the water has evaporated and only the oil and some vegetable juices remain.

Serve with optional feta cheese.