Here's a great recipe for vegetarians. Lazarus is NOT a vegetarian! However, Lazarus IS an Orthodox Christian, and it is the practice of the Orthodox Church to fast from from eating meat on most Wednesdays and Fridays (and all during Lent and many other feast days).
I was introduced to this dish at *St. George's Greek Orthodox Church (in Fresno --- one Wednesday evening after a pre-sanctified Liturgy).
Its very simple but does take a fair amount of time to prepare.
Cooking time is also quite long. I made this dish the other night and didnt start until ~2:30 and got it in the oven by ~3:30. I let it cook for 3 1/2 hours at 400%. Ideally I would suggest cooking this at around 350 degrees for around 4.5 to 6 hours depending upon how much you make and how well done you like your vegetables.
I assembled all the ingredients and took this picture.
INGREDIENTS:
2 green bell peppers
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red bell pepper
5 med onions
6 med red potatoes
6 to 8 med reg potatoes
1 large egg plant
5 carrots
2 cans of diced tomatoes
8 – 10 cloves of garlic
olive oil
oregano
parsley
salt
pepper
juice from two lemons
Note: you can use other kinds of egg plant. As you can see I didn't strictly follow the ingredients above - I added an orange bell pepper and used 3 kinds of potatoes: red, white, and yukon. You could also use fresh tomatoes - in fact I would recommend it. But if you do you will probably need to add a little water. I did not drain the juice from the tomatoes the other night when I made the dish and it came out just fine. The juice on eventually reduces (esp after 3 1/2 hours at 400 degrees :)
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
cut all the vegetables into bite size pieces. Place in pan[s] so that they are spread out and drizzle LIBERALLY with olive oil.
I have prepared this using a cookie sheet and a backing pan. You could also use a Dutch oven. You might want to put a cover over the top for the first hour or so.
Add the lemon juice, salt, pepper, parsley, and oregano. Place in oven a slow cook turning vegis as often as needed. Add more olive oil if needed. Let them cook until they get a beautiful caramelized color. The bits that are black in the image below are pieces of skin from the egg plant - nothing was burned.
This dish can stand up on its own as a main dish but if you're a carnivore like me it works great as a side dish to rib-eye steak :)
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*Oddly enuf, I cant find a proper website for the St. George's but they DO have a website about their annual Greek Festival which attracts thousands every year.
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