comes from the Greek word...

Sanet Labuschagne
Oct 13, 2020
3 min read

Briam is a Greek baked vegetable dish that has it's origins in Turkey. Like so many other dishes from the area there is often an overlapping of ingredients, dishes and methods between Greek and Turkish food but Briam is also very reminiscent of the French vegetable dish; Ratatouille but because Greek olive oil has such a distinct, grassy, full flavour Briam tastes completely different. You will find many, many, many variations of this dish regarding the ingredients and it usually depends on the seasonal availability of the vegetables, you will often find red peppers and egg plant in the mix but I prefer it fairly basic (and I also cook according to my grey beard's tastes) but the basic dish stays the same.

Most Briam recipes have a tomato based sauce of some sorts and again, I keep it fairly simple using my trusty Red Sauce (click on the link to go to the recipe) but for recipes like this I add ± 100ml dry red wine before adding the chopped tomatoes and reduce until most of the liquid has evaporated and then I add the chopped tomatoes, it makes for a richer, more interesting and intensely flavoured sauce.

Most of the recipes you will find for Briam have the three Greek veggie staples; potatoes, red onion and zucchini and that's exactly how I make the dish but you can add the other Greek staples egg plant and red pepper if you wish. I think that the addition of olives will be amazing but my grey beard doesn't like them so I don't add them but give it a bash and let me know. Another vital ingredient is olive oil and if you don't have Greek olive oil handy it's perfectly fine to use regular olive oil but you need the robustness of olive oil in the dish and most Greed dishes have a lot of olive oil added to them and I don't mind that one bit.

When we visited Greece many moons ago I ate like a queen, all the flavours and dishes are exactly the way I love to eat and I was in culinary heaven, even the eggs I had for breakfast every morning were amazing, they were fried in olive oil (fantastic, right?!?), I've tried making it here at home but it never comes out the same... I suppose sitting on a little terrace overlooking the ocean, sipping that delicious Greek coffee, sun shining down on us and stuffing my face with bread and eggs, is impossible to replicate.

You don't have to go through the motions of arranging the veggies the way I do but it looks beautiful and everything cooks evenly aaaand your family will think you actually like them if you make a bit of an effort ;)

Just before serving I always finish the dish off with a drizzle of olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and a grating of lemon zest but, sometimes, if I have some handy I crumble some feta over for the creaminess and scatter a few fresh oregano leaves over the lot (it looks pretty and brightens up the dish).

Here's How I make Briam;

Make the red sauce

Thinly slice the veggies you are planning to use, this is one way to practice you knife skills

Line the bottom of an ovenproof dish with some of the red sauce

Arrange the sliced veggies in any way you prefer (or you can just mix everything together) and season

spoon some of the red sauce over, cover and bake

Remove from the oven once cooked and season as desired

I served it with roast chicken and pumpkin (I have to give a special mention to the pumpkin, it was steamed until soft then fried in butter, a bit of sugar and a pinch of cinnamon and it was fan-freaking-tastic)