Homemade Baked Beans

Sundays is fry up time @ The Cottage and we are taking our time and enjoying the lazy morning. We have scrambled or poached eggs, bacon rashers, sausages, hash browns and beans. Mr T is always giving out about the sugar content of the beans and why do they call it tomato sauce if there isn't any flavour of tomatoes. That's one reason, we don't have baked beans that often.

So, I thought, there is a challenge for me to come up with something. Searching the Internet, there are many recipes out there but all very intense in labour (and who wants to have that on a Sunday morning). Anyhow, I decided to go by instinct and here is what I came up with (Mr T liked it especially because I only used a pinch of sugar). I used cannelloni beans but I think haricot beans are the better option if you can get them. A word of warning, if using dried beans, you will need to start the night before.

Baked Beans

Baked Beans

• 1 cup dried cannelloni or haricot beans
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced or sliced
• olive oil
• fresh herbs (optional)
• tomato passata
• seasoning
• pinch of sugar

The night before, soak the beans in cold water and leave to soak overnight (if you soak the beans in the morning of the day before, you could do the cooking the evening before, cutting down the time on Sunday morning).

The next morning, rinse the beans and place in a pan of cold water (don't add salt). Bring to the boil and leave to simmer until the beans are almost done. Drain and set aside.

In a frying pan, saute the onions and garlic until translucent and starting to caramelise. Add the beans and the passata and simmer on a low heat until the tomato sauce starts to thickens. Add the herbs if using and a pinch of sugar. Season to taste and serve along your Sunday fry-up

Bon Appetit