Greek Baked Beans (Gigantes plaki)
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup dry butter beans (lima beans)*
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 large sweet onion, diced
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 12 oz’s of chopped tomatoes
- 1/4 cup tomato purée
- 2 tbsp chopped oregano
- 2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
* You can use 1 can of butter beans instead of the dry for a quick version.
DIRECTIONS
Fill a glass bowl with 5 cups of cold water until the beans are completely covered. If any beans float to the top, remove and discard them. Soak overnight. By the next day, you should find that the beans have doubled in size. In fact, most of the water should have been absorbed. Rinse and drain the beans at least three times. When you are finished, the water should run clear.
Drain, rinse, then place in a stock pot with chicken stock. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, then simmer for an hour until slightly tender but not soft. The chicken stock should be reduced by 1/2.
Heat oven to 350 F convection. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan, add the onion, garlic, salt and pepper, sautée over medium heat for 10 mins until soft. Add the tomato purée, cook for another minute or so, add remaining ingredients and simmer for 5 minutes. Gently stir in the beans with any remaining liquid. Pour mixture in to a large baking dish and bake for 1 hour uncovered, do not stir. Check for doneness, the beans should be tender and the sauce should be thick.
Serve drizzled with olive oil and parsley, a squeeze of lemon is nice too.
