War on TV Chefs...Home Made Baked Beans....

 

  Where I live, 'Baked Beans' are squishy things in a bright orange sauce, purchased from the supermarket.   They're inexpensive, but truly, you can make them for mere cents. For the price of one can of baked beans, I can make a saucepan full, and mine taste really, really good. Even the carnivore in our family will eat them as a meal.   My home made baked beans also contain not a single processed ingredient. Not one.

They're easy, healthy, and delicious, and so much lighter in taste and texture than their canned counterparts.

Start this a day ahead of when you'll need it, to give you time to prepare the beans.

You'll need:

1/2 cup dry cannellini beans, soaked and cooked to soften (I used red kidney beans for the batch in my photo...any are fine really)
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 onion, peeled and diced
2 stalks celery, sliced down the middle and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 beef stock cube
1/2 cup water
1 dessertspoon cornflour
1 tablespoon oil

Then just:

Add the oil to a pan over a medium high heat, and fry the onion till translucent.

Add the tomato, garlic, and celery and fry until softened, about 4 minutes. Stir often.

Add the crumbled beef stock cube and stir well to combine.

Mix the water and the cornflour and add to the pan. Stir until it all thickens. Add a little more water if required to create a smooth sauce.

That's it.

Add diced bacon, speck or a teaspoon of Smokey Paprika for a great flavour boost.

Serve on toast, over rice or pasta or as a topping for baked potato, potato nests, hash browns or baked capsicums.

Yummy!