traditional Greek vegetable stew

This hearty, warming vegetable stew is the perfect way to end a cool autumn day.  Traditionally, Greek vegetable stew is made with peas but I’ve had it with green beans and its just as tasty.  A big piece of crusty bread, a fork and a spoon for the juices and you’ll be in heaven!

Carrots, peas and potatoes swim in a garlicky good light tomato sauce flavored with fresh dill. Fresh dill is a key ingredient here.  If you don’t have any around, put this dish off for another day. Vegetable stew is a great way to use winter vegetables and cooks up in no time at all.

A few ordinary ingredients make this an extraordinary meal.  I like to use large yellow potatoes cut into quarters and if you can’t get fresh peas, its fine to use frozen.  If you’re going with frozen, just take the time to thaw them before adding to the pot.

carrots, potatoes, peas and dill

Remember to cook the carrots and peas in the sauted garlic/onions, dill and tomato paste together before adding potatoes and water. It takes only a few extra minutes and makes a world of difference to the finished dish.

And this is a wonderful make-ahead dish as vegetable stew is always better the next day.  Even though you may be very tempted, try to wait at least an hour after removing the pot from heat before serving.  It needs to settle a bit and will be worth the wait, I promise!

I most often use a 6 qt pot and that can hold double the recipe if need be. For a single recipe, it holds everything nicely and gives you enough space to stir freely.  My 6qt pot is a large oval shape with a larger bottom surface that works well when you need to first sauté aromatics before adding the rest of your ingredients.  I find it is easier to work with than a deep soup or stock pot with a dish like vegetable stew.

Ingredients

• 5-6 large yellow potatoes (cut into quarters)
• 5-6 carrots (cut into smallish pieces)
• 3 cups peas – frozen are fine but thaw them first
• 1/2 cup dill
• 1 cup onions (rough chopped)
• 1/2 cup garlic (rough chopped)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1/2 cup tomato paste dissolved in 3/4 cup warm water
• 3/4 cup of olive oil
• 7 cups water

Cooking Instructions

Saute onions and garlic in olive oil on low heat until soft and translucent.  Add fresh chopped dill, salt, fresh ground pepper, tomato paste dissolved in water, carrots and peas.  Stir everything together well and cook for five minutes. Add potatoes and 7 cups of water, enough to just cover potatoes and cook uncovered over medium heat on a low boil for 40 minutes or until potatoes and carrots are fork tender.  Allow vegetable stew to rest for at least an hour and as much as 24-48 hours before serving.

This recipe serves 4-6 servings and I’ve both doubled and tripled it with fine results.

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