Briami (Greek Oven-Roasted Vegetables)

"A traditional Greek vegetarian dish. Delicious and easy. Great to do when you have a bumper crop of zucchini on hand. Olive oil adds a great flavour element to the dish, and also adds extra calories as Briami is considered a 'main dish' here in Greece. If you choose to serve it as a side, you can cut back some on the olive oil. The servings specified are considering it as a vegetarian main dish. If you're having it as a side, either cut back, or plan on getting more servings out of it."
 
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Ready In:
2hrs 30mins
Ingredients:
12
Serves:
4-5
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ingredients

  • 5 large zucchini, washed and scrubbed and cut crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices
  • 4 large potatoes, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/4 inch thick slices
  • 3 -4 garlic cloves, sliced thin
  • 1 large onion, peeled, cut in half, each half cut into thirds, large wedges (Spanish or Bermuda)
  • 2 large tomatoes, peeled and quartered
  • 14 lb hard cheese, cut into large chunks (I use 'kefalograviera or 'myzithra' which you may not have, something like Parmesan would be excelle)
  • 12 cup olive oil
  • 14 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon oregano
  • 2 tablespoons fresh spearmint, minced (or 1 tsp dry)
  • 2 tablespoons cut cilantro (optional)
  • salt and pepper
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directions

  • Preheat oven to 420 degrees F.
  • Put everything in a very large baking pan. Pour water, olive oil on top and add herbs. Season generously.
  • Put your clean hands in the pan and give all the veggies a toss so herbs, and oil and salt and pepper go on everything.
  • It looks like a lot but don't worry - it'll 'melt' down considerably during cooking.
  • Roast for a couple of hours, stirring everthing up a couple of times to allow veggies on bottom to come up and brown nicely too. What you're after in terms of texture is for the vegetables to 'melt' into each other, but without losing their individual shape. NOTHING crisp-tender going on here - just meltingly, comfortingly, deliciously tender.
  • This is delicious with good crusty bread (lovely juices) and feta cheese on the side- like we eat it.
  • Will probably serve 6 hungry people, or maybe not. We go through it fast. It's even better the next day.

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Reviews

  1. Well, this was a masterpiece. Everyone was very impressed when this appeared on the table this Thanksgiving. We are vegetarian, and I searched all over for a veggie main dish. This was a really big hit. Thanks for this recommendation! Fantastic blend of flavors. I did leave out the tomatoes, simply because I'd added everything else and didn't see how they would fit!! I will make this many times. Thank you!! UPDATE! I've made this many, many times since Thanksgiving and have started to play around with it some. Tonight (see picture) I used sweet potatoes and added halved big button mushrooms. Also added a few leeks I needed to use up. Also, instead of just zucchini, I used some yellow squash. TERRIFIC recipe, I can't recommend this enough! I felt so sick today and this was all that sounded good to me---such a healthy, healing meal!
     
  2. Absolutely Delicous. I used tomatoes,kohlrabi, kabocha squash, green bell peppers, red bell peppers, carrots, and sweet potatoes. I only roasted for 1 hour and the texture of these vegetables was perfect. I skipped the cheese since I did not have it on hand. Will add the cheese the next time around. I love it and will use this regularly. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
     
  3. What a great recipe!!! Evelyn this is fantastic! I really enjoyed how the veggies cooked down like you said and even though I made this for 2 people, we very much enjoyed the leftovers, just like you say! Made for ZWT - A Seasoned Sailor and his Sassy Sirens.
     
  4. Exquisite texture! The vegetables softened and blended together really well. I was totally full, even though we halved the oil. Cheese melted down to just a hint of taste. I'm not normally fond of zucchini, but loved it in this dish. Thought it could have used one more tomato maybe? This was our main veggie entree. Will be making again. Only drawback was that it takes a while, not good for a weeknight recipe.
     
  5. This was so good! I followed the recipe exactly as printed and was very happy with the flavors (I wasn't sure about the mint, but glad I didn't omit it). Now that I know what to expect and what I enjoyed about this dish, next time I will use less zucchini (I think mine were larger then 'large' - they were ENORMOUS) and increase the number of tomatoes to maybe 4 or 5. I might also cut down cooking time to just 2 hours or as long as necessary for the potatoes to cook through. It seems like some of the amazing flavors from the spices were lost by the end (I tasted midways ;). This will definitely become a regular dish in my home. Thank you!
     
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Tweaks

  1. This dish is just fantastic. The only changes I made were to use jarred minced garlic instead of whole cloves and I used parmesan cheese. I looked for the other two cheeses but did not find it in our grocery store. This recipe will definitely be made again! I asked my husband what would make it better and he said "a bigger fork!". :) It was delicious.
     
  2. I made this for Thanksgiving Dinner last year and now everyone wants it to be a tradition. I used half brussel sprouts and half zucchini and added lots more whole garlic cloves. Instead of just oil, I used a cup of Greek vinaigrette and then a couple of tablespoons of fresh rosemary. I cooked it for an hour and then took the six hour trip and reheated it for another hour before dinner. It was soooo delicious. The guests wanted more of the whole garlics and more of the brussel sprouts!
     
  3. This was excellent - I have made it a few times. I omitted the cheese and used a 28 ounce can of peeled plum tomatoes with juice in place of the 2 large tomatoes and water. I also doubled the amount of mint. Great recipe Evelyn!
     
  4. We had this as a part of our Christmas morning brunch. We rarely try out anything new in this traditional meal. I think it will be a yearly tradition from now on. This is a wonderful recipe. I used sheep myzirtha cheese which I liked because it held it's shape during cooking and added a smoky taste. I made the following changes: I used 1 1/2 t rosemary instead of oregano and I think that was a good change. I also used yellow squash instead of zucchini. I omitted the pepper.
     
  5. Wow. I wish I could give this one 6 stars! I didn't have any spearmint; otherwise, I followed the recipe closely. The only change I'll make next time is to use shredded Parmesan instead of chunks of Parm -- the cheese didn't melt as evenly as I would have liked.
     

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

<style>body { background: url("http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3512121819_f2f1aaf050.jpg?v=0"); background-repeat: repeat-y; }</style> OK, here goes. I live in Athens, Greece. I moved out here many, many years ago from Ottawa, Canada - so I am blessed in having two wonderful heritages! I suffer from compulsive obsessive behaviour with regard to food and my psychiatrist thought it would be a good idea to find a 'society' where many have the same problem and try to find a cure. So far, I've copied a couple of thousand recipes from this site and my psychiatrist has thrown the towel in and refuses to answer the phone when I call. What did I do wrong? Got 3 kids that keep me on the go - 10 and under at this point (2008) - I may not get round to updating this for a few years, so you'll have to do your own maths. I teach English full-time and Greek Cookery part-time. I would like to make the cooking part of it full-time and the English Grammar part of it part-time. That's all for now.
 
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