Baked Beans

Heinz means Beans.

Apparently not.

I have never been a fan of baked beans.  So I decided to make my own.

I am very glad I did.

You can play around with as many of the ingredients as you wish but these were delicious.  If you’re vegetarian then simply leave out the bacon – although the smokey flavour of the bacon I used added a really nice depth so make sure you replace it with some nice smoked paprika.

This recipe made easily enough for 8 portions and they were pretty hungry portions at that.

25g butter
2 finely chopped onions
4 garlic cloves – chopped
200g Oak smoked bacon lardons
3tbsp Lancashire Sauce
1tbsp Vinegar
1tbsp Sugar
1tbsp Tomato Puree
1tbsp Honey
2 x 400g tinned tomatoes
1½tsp Mustard Powder
Salt & Pepper
400g tin Cannellini Beans (washed and drained)
300g tin Haricot Beans (washed and drained)

• Preheat oven to Gas mark 1/ 140 C
• Melt butter in a casserole on a low heat.
• Slowly fry onions and garlic until softened and translucent.
• Turn up heat and add lardons, keep stirring and fry off meat.
• Add 2 tbsp Lancashire Sauce and all the vinegar – stir for 2 minutes
• Add Tomato Puree, stir and cook off for 5 mins
• Add all other ingredients including remaining Lancashire Sauce and simmer gently for 5 mins
• Put the lid on the casserole and place in middle of the oven for 2½ hours, checking regularly for seasoning.

Serve on hot, buttered, thick toast – if ain’t broke don’t fix it!

Alternatively – sit round a campfire and feel just like a cowboy.