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| Cannellini Beans baked with Passata and Chorizo |
Baked Beans
The next of my cheap family meals is Baked Beans.
We had these for tea
tonight and they were superb!
A slight misnomer there
as they don’t actually have to be baked but can be if you want. With Supermarket
own brands, you can actually buy baked beans cheaper than you can make them but
the taste is incomparable. The cost of making these can be greatly reduced if
you grow your own beans, garlic, onions and tomatoes, as we do here at North
Wald Self Catering on Orkney.
Use whatever beans you like, or have to hand. I used Cannellini beans tonight
but I have used, dried butter beans, fresh haricot, fresh runner bean seeds and
fresh Barlotti beans before. You can even use a mixture.
Ingredients
1lb of dried beans, soaked over night or 3lb of
fresh beans
8oz-1lb of Chorizo or whatever diced protein you
would like – this is optional.
2 large onions – finely chopped
A few cloves of garlic – very finely chopped
1 small red chilli – very finely chopped
1 teaspoon of paprika – preferably smoked
¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Black Pepper
1 tablespoon of black treacle
About 1 ¾ pints of passata
A little oil.
Method
Cook the beans until
tender in a large heavy pan with plenty of water. This could take well over an
hour for dried beans. Remember to boil them rapidly for at least 10 minutes
before simmering to kill the wind causing enzymes. DO NOT ADD SALT!
Drain the beans reserving the liquid. Put the pan back on the heat and add the oil. Now sauté the onions, garlic, chilli and any meat you may be using. When the meat is cooked and the onions are soft add the paprika and cayenne and mix well. Now add the beans back in and mix well. Stir in the passatta and the black treacle. If the beans are not fully covered then add a little of the reserved liquid until they are just covered and no more. Season with the black pepper. Still do not add salt or the beans will toughen!
The mix can now be simmered gently on top of the stove or put in the oven (180C / 350F for 1hr) for further cooking, but stir often and add more of the reserved liquid if getting too thick.
Serve on its own, with bread and butter, with garlic bread, with a salad or even the old standard of Beans on Toast!
Drain the beans reserving the liquid. Put the pan back on the heat and add the oil. Now sauté the onions, garlic, chilli and any meat you may be using. When the meat is cooked and the onions are soft add the paprika and cayenne and mix well. Now add the beans back in and mix well. Stir in the passatta and the black treacle. If the beans are not fully covered then add a little of the reserved liquid until they are just covered and no more. Season with the black pepper. Still do not add salt or the beans will toughen!
The mix can now be simmered gently on top of the stove or put in the oven (180C / 350F for 1hr) for further cooking, but stir often and add more of the reserved liquid if getting too thick.
Serve on its own, with bread and butter, with garlic bread, with a salad or even the old standard of Beans on Toast!
Variations
For the protein content
you can use Chorizo, bacon bits, pork belly or even sausages, again whatever
you like. You can leave meat out and make it vegetarian.
Thank you for reading this and please come back to
my cheap family meals.
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