The Hungry Eleven

Greek vegetable stew

Nathan and I cooked a Greek vegetable stew, also known as a briami, for meals co-op this week.  The recipe below is adapted from The Olive and the Caper, which I requested for Christmas last year just because I wanted this recipe.  A good friend first made the stew for me several years ago, back when we were both grad students at UT, and I hadn't had it since. "You don't like mushy vegetables," she warned me, "You might not like this."  But it's as good as I remember: chock full o' veggies stewed in olive oil, white wine, and their own juices, topped with capers and fresh parsley:

Greek vegetable stew

1/3 C olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 1/2 lbs potatoes, cut into 1/2-in pieces (I used Yukon Golds, and I left the peels on.)

1 1/2 lbs zucchini or other summer squash, cut into 1/2-in pieces

1 green bell pepper, seeded, stemmed, and cut into 1/2-in wide strips

1 1/2 lbs Roma tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped, with juices

1 tsp salt

freshly ground black pepper

1/4 C chopped fresh dill

3/4 C chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1/4 C dry white wine (I used a semi-dry Chardonnay.)

capers, lots of capers

1.  Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and garlic and sauté until wilted but not browned, about 5 minutes.

2.  Add the potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, bell pepper, salt, pepper, dill, 1/2 C of the parsley, and the wine. Bring to a boil.  Cover and cook over med-low heat until the veggies are very tender and the whole thing looks very juicy, about 1 hour.

3.  Remove the cover and stir the veggies.  Continue cooking uncovered until the liquid reduces a bit and the veggies are soft, about 30 minutes.  Serve hot or at room temp topped with capers (I like about 1 tsp. of capers per big bowl full of stew) and the rest of the parsley.