two easy summer recipes

Last summer we had a huge amount of food coming out of the poly tunnel - aubergines, tomatoes, basil and capsicums as well as potatoes, onions and garlic in the garden. Stuy was away in India for the first three months of the year and although the veggie garden was prolific, my time wasn't! I had to take on more of the business side of things, do most of the gardening by myself as well as schooling the children and running our home.

It was busy!!!  Something had to give! 

Then as I trawled around some blogs late one night (isn't that what you do when you are tired and overworked and just need some 'me' time?) I discovered one that was dedicated to Greek vegetarian food. Lots of Mediterranean veggies, herbs and olive oil - just what was needed.

And I came across Greek Briam. Oh it's good. Very good. So good that it became one of the staple summer dishes that got me through that busy time. Easy, tasty and healthy.
Lisa, who writes the Greek Vegetarian blog, has some fantastic recipes there, all with beautiful photography and sweet snippets of Greece. 

I won't rewrite the recipe for you because I haven't changed it except to make double or more, so go and have a look for yourself and do try it! We mostly had it with a very quick focaccia style bread, which I will share here…. but please bear in mind that this recipe is - as usual - just a rough one! 

Easy Focaccia

In a large mixing bowl place 2 cups of blood temperature water. 

Stir in a spoonful of sugar or honey. 

Sprinkle about 2 heaped tablespoons of yeast granules over the water/honey mix.

Drizzle a good slurp of olive oil over the yeast.

Stir together gently.

Cover with tea towel and leave in a warm place for at least 15 minutes.

When it looks frothy, start adding flour. I use plain spelt or plain organic white flour with a bit of wholemeal. 

You will want to add some salt at this point too.

Keep mixing in flour until the dough is fairly stiff and workable.

Oil the trays. 

Divide dough and press onto tray (about 1cm thick) 

Prick all over with a fork.

Sprinkle with coarse celtic salt, fresh rosemary sprigs and dried mixed herbs.

Drizzle olive oil over the lot. 

Bake at 180 degrees for about 1/2 hour or until done. 

And there you have it! An easy summer meal. We had some local feta to crumble over the top and it really does need some source of protein. Perhaps hard boiled eggs would go too. And a crisp, green garden salad.

I really hope you give this a try. I've had these photos lined up since last years Briam meals and now that its summer again and I'm almost ready with the right vegetables, I thought I'd share.

Do you think you would make this?
Do you like oily, rich dishes?
I do!