Bean and Tomato Bake

Bean and Tomato Bake

 This recipe is designed for simplicity because everything goes into a crockpot and then goes into the oven.

But, as with most recipes, Mum changes them. I think her changes add flavour because she browns several ingredients in a pan before adding them to the crockpot. Her changes also cut down on the cooking time.

So what I will do here is give the original recipe first and add Mum’s changes to the end.

2 cups of dried chickpeas (soak and cook)

Put into a crockpot (or casserole dish) in this order:

¼ cup of oil

½ cup sliced onions

2 chopped carrots

3 stalks of sliced celery

1 cup mushrooms

2 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons garlic powder

½ teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons sweet basil

1 teaspoon thyme

2 teaspoons paprika

Fill the crockpot with cooked beans and add:

1 cup tomato puree

½ cup sugar

¼ cup red wine

2 bay leaves

Cover and leave in the crockpot on a low oven for 4 hours.

Mum’s changes:

Use the oil to fry the onions. When half cooked, add the celery to the pan with the onions and fry. Frying will brown them and add extra flavour. Put all in the crockpot.

Next, fry the mushrooms for a while to brown them. Add to the crockpot.

Heat the red wine in the fry pan as this will take some of the alcohol off before adding to crockpot.

Use tinned chick peas as this will cut down the cooking time.

Use way less sugar than the original recipe – only ½ to ¾ of a teaspoon.

Use fresh garlic instead of dried.

Add a bit of corriander paste.

Instead of tomato puree use tinned tomatoes.

Bake for 2 hours at 180 degrees celcius.

This was a very tasty vegetarian dish. I guess this recipe would work well in a slow-cooker as well. We had boiled potatoes as a side dish. In winter the Bean and Tomato Bake would be great with warmed bread (and a red wine…merlot would be good).

PIE: The next day, to use up the leftovers, Mum rolled out some flaky puff pastry and made pies filled with Bean and Tomato Bake. We had that for lunch and I took the rest home to heat up for dinner. 

That’s what I call ‘takeaways’!!