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?

Poor Person's Gigantic Beans - Gigantes

So the reason I'm posting this recipe is coz my friends asked me how to cook beans. The beans above are about an inch or so in length.

They taste very much like a healthy baked potato - good for people who like potatoes but have an aversion to beans.

Ingredients:

1. Lima beans - cooked until they are firm. (In boiling water) They look white in the middle when they are not cooked. They tend to darken in colour as they cook and absorb water. Don't over cook! Cooking time depends on the freshness of the beans.
2. Olive oil (The darker the colour, the better)
3. Salt and pepper
4. Dill

Mix gently as you would a salad. Add some crumbled feta if you have some. Unfortunately I didn't have any. Some people (like my mum) add vinegar. I don't. You could also add garlic and freshly grated tomato. I ate like a pig last night, so I was going for the pauper version.

[Re quantities: I just add whatever amount tastes good. I will post amounts when it's crucial to the recipe (ie a cake). Also, as all of my recipes are accidents, I'd only be guessing the amounts I used anyway.]

THEA POPPY'S GREEK BAKED BEANS
You many as well learn some greek as we go. "Thea" means aunt. Everyone who is a generation older than you is referrred to as aunt or uncle, I guess it's meant to show respect or something. Thea Poppy is a family friend and great cook. Everything she makes is delicious. This is my version of Thea Poppy's baked beans.

[I was about to make the following recipe, but when I made the beans and then tasted them to see if they were ready be napolied... I found that they were so delicious I couldn't bear to sauce them. The beans must have been really fresh... which doesn't surprise me as they only took about 15 minutes to cook. I'll keep the remaining beans in the fridge, if I'm inspired to make my greek baked beans recipe - I'll post it later.]

1. Cook lima beans (or gigantes if you can find them)... actually it works with any bean.
2. While they are cooking, make your favourite napoli sauce.
3. When the beans are almost cooked (say 80% cooked) drain them. I like to do this so that they absorb the napoli as they cook further in the oven.
4. Add the beans to your napoli sauce and bake them in the oven until they get a little crisp and brown on top and are ready to be eaten. (20-30 minutes?) Yum.
5. To make them more authentically Greek, add dill instead of basil as your main herb.

NOTE: My background is greek, so you'll find a greek influence in my cooking. Gigantes is the greek word for the bigger lima-type beans. My direct translation would be "gigantics". If you can find them - fantastic! In Melbourne I can only find largish lima beans (in Oakleigh) or medium sized lima beans in supermarkets - they're not genuine gigantes but I don't think you can get them here. I've never tried the real thing. Have you?

To soak or not to soak

Rather than rant to people who couldn't care less what I think. I'll rant to an electronic network of light and letters. This blog is basically an electronic recipe book for me... and if you come across one of my recipes, try it and like it... well yippee for the two of us!!!

So... to soak or not? Simple. The scientist and Aries in me has done the following experiment many times: cook beans without soaking. Eat beans. Verdict? No problems. What's the big deal about soaking? I've heard all manner or conspiracy theories:
1. It's just better.
2. Cooking time is shortened. (What? 20 minutes is too long?)
3. It causes less flatulence.
4. It reduces sugars that are bad for your digestion.

Most of the people who have lectured to me about the merits of soaking beans never do it themselves because it takes too much forward planning. Their solution? Canned beans. Canned beans!!!! Ugh. Yuk. Blechhh. Soggy and soft mushy yuckiness. Yes if I was desperate... on a deserted island and all I could eat was canned beans then YES I would eat them... but at NO other time. Canned beans are already cooked so they don't absorb the flavour of the juices, sauces, dressing you should be placing them in. Don't buy canned beans, it's like buying canned pasta.

And to respond to the above arguments for the soaking of beans:
1. It just isn't. Soaking the beans toughens the skins and makes them chewy.
2. It depends on the freshness of the beans. They are so easy to over cook - why bother making it more difficult to monitor their cookededness by reducing their already short cooking time.
3. Has anyone done a controlled experiment to prove this? My flatulence seems to be appropriate to the food I've eaten. It's a little reminder that you've been eating healthfully.
4. At least I'm eating beans and not chocolate. I can tolerate bean sugars.
5. And another thing... soaked beans often start to sprout or split. This looks bad and unappealing.

So how to cook beans? Boil them in plenty of water... and monitor them.