Briam: A Greek casserole bursting with garden vegetables
In various Mediterranean countries, people have a similar way of creating a delicious and easy meal from the bounty of zucchini, tomatoes, and eggplant produced by their gardens in late summer, said Albert Stumm in Milk Street magazine. Greece’s version is called briam, a casserole in which thinly sliced tomatoes and any number of other vegetables are drenched in olive oil, then alternately layered with rounds of potato and baked. Feta cheese typically is served on the side, to be crumbled on top.
“But as delicious as briam is, it poses a challenge”: When you throw many different vegetables into the oven together, some will wind up underdone and some overdone. “Moreover, that hodgepodge approach can produce a muddle of flavors.”
For our version, we start the potatoes in a microwave so they’ll be fully cooked at the same time as the other vegetables, and we narrow the variety of ingredients as well. Use plum tomatoes instead of round, which are more watery, and avoid using precrumbled feta cheese, because it can wind up tasting “overwhelmingly” salty. Done right, briam is excellent warm or at room temperature, and it is always “more than the sum of its parts.”
Briam (Greek baked vegetables)
2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes, not peeled, sliced ¼ inch thick
2 medium zucchini, sliced into ½ inch rounds
1 medium red onion (or two large shallots),
halved and thinly sliced
4 medium garlic cloves, thinly sliced
6 ripe plum tomatoes, 4 cored and chopped, 2 cored and sliced crosswise into ¼ inch rounds
1 tbsp plus ½ tsp dried oregano
¼ cup plus 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and ground black pepper 2 oz feta cheese, crumbled
¼ cup lightly packed fresh basil, torn (or 3 tbsp chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley or dill)
Heat oven to 475 with a rack in the middle position. In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine potatoes and ¼ cup water. Cover and microwave on high until potatoes are just shy of tender, about 10 minutes, stirring once halfway through.
Pour off and discard any liquid from bottom of bowl. Add zucchini, onion, garlic, chopped tomatoes, 1 tbsp oregano, ¼ cup oil, 1 tbsp salt, and 1 tsp pepper. Toss well, then spread in a 9-by-13-inch broiler-safe baking pan.
Lay tomato slices on top, spacing them evenly. Drizzle with remaining 2 tsp oil, then sprinkle with remaining ½ tsp oregano and ¼ tsp each salt and pepper. Bake until a skewer inserted into vegetables meets no resistance, about 25 minutes.
Turn oven to broil and broil casserole until well browned, about 5 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with feta. Rest for about 10 minutes, then sprinkle with basil and drizzle with additional oil. Serves 6.