Baked beans on toast… Oh, well. Once upon a time, I made a meal, using only simple things that I managed to find at home. There were beans involved, and tomato sauce, and onions, of course. Then I put the ragout on slices of bread, baked them in the oven, and I thought I just did something groundbreaking. Then, about a week ago, when we had one of those regular “what the hell should we make for dinner tomorrow” talks, I opened THE book, and found this recipe. Almost the same, but a lot more fancier – I mean, there’s even some balsamic vinegar in it. Well, thanks Jamie Oliver. Now I can take back my self-clap-on-the-shoulder. However! My little sister said my original version was better, so she gets a plus point for this, even though you shouldn’t believe her.
As always, I like a good challenge, so I baked the bread for the recipe. I followed this recipe, and it worked perfectly (of course it did), so definitely try this if you feel up to it – after all, homemade bread is the best bread.
If you have your bread ready, now it's time to make the beans. I changed a few things with the ingredients so that I can work with what I have. Let's see, shall we?
Ingredients for the beans:
- 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 x 400g canned beans
- About 1 cup of tomato purée
- Cheddar
- 1 chili pepper
- 2 sprigs of rosemary
- Olive oil
- Salt, pepper
How:
- First, make the tasty chili-rosemary oil. For this you have to chop the chili finely, then put it into a small pan, add the leaves of the rosemary, and add olive oil until they are covered. Then start heating it on a very low fire, and leave it on for about 20 minutes.
- Add a few tablespoons of this oil into an oven proof pan/pot, add the cleaned and chopped garlic and onion, plus the paprika, and cook until soft. Stir in every now and then.
- Add the balsamic vinegar and cook it a little more. Meanwhile, drain almost all of the liquid from the beans, and add them to the pan. Then also add the tomato.
- Cook for about 5-10 minutes, and then add salt and pepper to taste.
- Scrunch a sheet of parchment paper and put it under water. Then, gently put the paper over your pan and transfer it to a preheated oven. Bake for about 1 hour.
- When it’s done (smells great and it’s thick), take a slice of bread, toast it, spoon some beans on it, grate some cheese on it, pour some of the rosemary oil on top, and you’re done!
I made a double batch right at the first try, and even though it was enough for the five of us to have lunch, dinner, and then a second dinner, I have no regrets. I’ll definitely make a double batch next time, too… This might happen sooner than I expected, because writing this post made me really hungry. ;)
