Monday, November 16, 2009

Greek beans - baked OR Baked Beans - Greek Style

This is for you Miria.
I tried to tell Miria how to make the Greek baked beans over the phone but somehow my instructions didn't translate and her beans didn't work out. So I took some pictures with my iPhone which has a great knack of making my food look cold, bland and seventies. Come on Apple get a decent camera on that phone of yours!

Ingredients
lima beans
olive oil
1 onion, finely diced
2 cans of crushed or peeled tomatoes (I use La Gina brand - the best)
1 tbs tomato paste
1 small carrot, thinly sliced
parsley or dill or both (fresh of course!)
2 bay leaves

Instructions
1. Boil the beans until they're nearly cooked. I just taste them. Unfortunately some beans cook faster than others - they don't behave like pasta. Some might turn into mush while others are not cooked yet. When some of them start to get mushy - stop cooking!

2. Drain the beans.

3. If the skins have separated from some of the beans, remove them. They don't taste so good! Sometimes the skins don't separate from the beans and sometimes they do and sometimes only half do. I dunno why.

4. Add some fresh olive oil (about 2 tablespoons) and some salt. Gently stir the beans. If you add some herbs and a little cheese (like goats or fetta) and maybe some freshly grated tomato - you already have a meal. But I will continue on with my baked beans recipe.

5. To make your napoli (tomato sauce) throw the onions and garlic into hot olive oil.
6. When cooked, add the carrots, beans, tomatoes, tomato paste and as much of the parsley or dill that you think will taste nice. (For me, that would be 1 to 5 tablespoons depending on my mood). Cook for about 20 minutes or until you think the napoli is edible.



7. Mix the beans with the napoli and place in an oven dish.
8. Bake until a lot of the liquid is absorbed. (30 minutes to 1 hour?) and the beans start to get crunchy/slightly burnt (see first picture).

The burnt/crunchy bits taste great. The beans are freeze-able but don't cook till crunchy if you plan on freezing them.

To serve add some crumbled fetta cheese. I didn't have any so I'm eating them straight. Very filling and tasty! No need to buy baked beans in a can, hey?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks Tania!!

I will make a second attempt at Grrek Beans now that I have excellent pictures to guide me. Also I think I cooked the beans in stock the first time I did it, cause I thought that would be clever, but didn't realise that's a bit like cooking them with salt in the water - made them a bit tough I think. Miria

Anonymous said...

Don't worry, the photos do it justice - or else it just looks so delicious that even a pencil drawing of it would make me want to cook that!

Καλή όρεξη! (Kalí óreksi)