‘Briam’, aka the Greek version of ratatouille, is a wonderfully easy way to bring a super nutritious and aromatic taste of the Med to your table. On a recent holiday in Corfu, I couldn’t get enough of this deliciously rich, nourishing and colourful dish, which uses so many gorgeous Mediterranean vegetables and herbs. It’s incredibly simple to throw together and is packed full of goodness. It can be eaten hot or at room temperature. It can also be made in a big batch and frozen easily and the best part - you can replace or add any vegetables you like and the result will still be fabulous!
Serves 12
Ingredients:
- 4 tomatoes
- 125ml extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp Greek honey
- 5 tbsp fresh parsley (chopped)
- 5 tbsp fresh mint (chopped)
- 5 tbsp fresh basil (chopped)
- 2 tbsp fresh oregano (chopped)
- 4 tbsp of capers
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 onions (sliced)
- 2 new potatoes (sliced)
- 2 aubergine (sliced)
- 3 courgette (sliced)
- 3 red, green or yellow peppers (sliced)
- 200g of okra
- A pinch of course sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas 4. Place three of the tomatoes, the 125ml olive oil, red wine vinegar, Greek honey, parsley, mint, basil, oregano, capers and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and process to create a fresh tomato sauce. Season with salt and black pepper and set aside.
- Next chop up the remaining tomato then set it to one side while you get cracking on the onions.
- Heat the 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat, and cook and stir the onions until slightly golden, about 10 minutes.
- Next add in the rest of the vegetables and give the whole mixture a good stir. Add the reserved chopped tomato and the fresh tomato sauce, then take it off the heat and spoon the mixture into a large baking dish. If needed, stir in a little water so that the vegetables are all covered with sauce.
- Bake in the oven on a middle shelf for about an hour until all the vegetables are tender.
- Serve with some extra chopped parsley and basil and season with salt and pepper – or even with fresh or dried chilli if you like it spicy!
By Amelia Stewart of Cook First. For more of Amelia's delightful recipes, please visit www.cookfirst.co.uk/samplerecipes.
*Cover image courtesy of https://www.dianekochilas.com/briam/
