Giant Baked Greek Beans

 I fell in love with this dish a couple of years ago while in Kefalonia, it really appeals to the rustic recipe nerd in me. This and Briam ( ate a lot of that in Lesvos this year ) are just a couple of my favourite Greek dishes.... there are rather a lot but in my opinion the vegetable dishes are just the best. I first bought the beans back from Lesvos but these fabulous giant beans are regularly available in Lidl on Greek week. 

Ingredients:

500gms Giant Beans

2 Onions  roughly chopped

3 Sticks Celery roughly chopped

4 Garlic Cloves roughly chopped

4 Carrots roughly chopped

1 Red Pepper roughly chopped

Good glug Greek olive oil

2 Large Bay Leaves

2 Cinnamon sticks

1 Tin chopped tomatoes

2 Large Tablespoons Tomato Paste

1 Vegetable Stock cube

Zest of 1 Lemon

400gms Water

Nice handful fresh Rosemary

Handful of Chopped Parsley

1 Tablespoon sugar

3 Spring Onions roughly chopped

Salt and Pepper

This is how we do it, cover beans with water and a little salt and leave overnight, next day rinse with cold water and cover with fresh cold water and simmer until softish - about and hour. When soft but not sloppy rinse and keep to one side.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a pan and fry onions, celery, garlic, carrots and red pepper for approx ten minutes, add sugar, tomato paste and stock cube and cook out for a couple of minutes, add bay leaves and rosemary and tinned tomatoes and after about 2 minutes add to your drained beans.

Add everything else and give it a nice stir, place in an ovenproof dish , cover with foil ( I also used a strong lid ) and cook in the centre of the over at 180c Gas Mark 4 for about an hour and a half, remove foil and put back in the oven for a further 15 minutes.

I give this a squirt of lemon juice and a sprinkle of Feta cheese before serving and simply serve with a cold beer and some crunchy bread - its delicious! 

Thanks to Akis Petretzikis for this recipe which I have only slightly noodled with, it's a firm favourite now. 

Cheap and healthy