Homemade Baked Beans

We came across this recipe in The Times back in February and every so often I decide it’s time to cook up another batch and get to work. It only takes about 10 minutes to put it all together and then it cooks in the oven for several hours (I guess you could do it in a crockpot instead if you wanted to).

Ingredients

• 3 tins borlotti beans or red kidney beans, drained and rinsed (or 450g dried, soaked for 24 hours) [I tend to use 3 different types of beans including kidney beans, borlotti, butter beans,aduki.. but it really just depends what we have in the cupboard]
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped [I always put in an extra onion]
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 100g streaky bacon, chopped [You can leave this out for a vegetarian version]
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp maple syrup, or 2 tbsp treacle and a pinch of brown sugar [you could get away with just 1 tbsp maple syrup, but it does need a bit of something]
• salt and pepper
• 1 tsp Coleman’s mustard powder [don’t know if you have this in the US!]

Pre-heat the oven to 170C/325F/gas 3. Rinse the beans in water and drain.

Heat the oil in a large heavy bottomed casserole dish and saute the onion, garlic and bacon until soften (about 5 mins). Add the herbs and spicesand sweat for a further 2-3 minutes. Add everything else and bring to simmering point.

Cover the beans in enough water so that there is a spare 5cm at the top of the dish. Cover with a lid and put in the oven for 4 hours, stirring halfway through and making sure there is enough liquid. You want the beans to be juicy but not swimming around in liquid. Add more water if they are looking dry and turn the oven up if they are looking too wet.

Store in a cool part of the kitchen overnight and eat the next day. They really do taste even better the next day, and they will keep in the fridge for at least four days.

Nutritional information - The recipes seves six and has 333 calories per serving. Unfortunately I can’t tell you any more because that’s all I have on my cutting!