Giant Baked Beans
3 cups cooked Lima beans
400g can crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion
up to 1 teaspoon marjoram
up to 1 teaspoon oregano
up to 1 teaspoon thyme
1-2 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons tomato paste
a few shakes hot chili flakes (optional)
Soak the Lima beans for up to 8 hours in cold water, or 1-2 hours in freshly boiled water, until doubled in size. Simmer them for an hour or more in a large pot with plenty of water until tender. Drain.
Finely chop the onion and sweat it in a saucepan with herbs until soft and golden-brown. Add sugar and salt (to taste), canned tomatoes and tomato paste. Simmer for a few minutes. Roughly puree, using a stick blender or blender.
Put the cooked beans in a large casserole dish. Pour in the sauce. Stir in 2 cups hot water and bake, uncovered, for 1.5 hours. Stir occasionally. Serve on your choice of starch - rice, potatoes, mashed potatoes, etc.
Note: If you don't have Lima beans, haricot/cannellini beans work fine too. But they won't be as big and fun and yummy. :D
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Hah, oops, I guess it was a bit misleading of me to put cooked beans in the ingredients, then give cooking instructions for them. ::)
Sorry! I'd modify the recipe, but that option's not available anymore... :(
--- wait! I just realized it said 3 cups "COOKED" lima beans. That might have been the problem. I did 3 cups uncooked ones. and since they pretty much double in size, oh wow! I sure had a LOT of lima beans. So, I suppose the original recipe of 3 cups COOKED is just fine. I'm just a dork! ::)
This was pretty tasty! I actually added a carrot and one head of broccoli - both chopped and blended. And I added a can of tomato sauce. I think next time I will only do 1 1/2 cups of beans rather than the 3 cups. They got overwhelming. BUT overall, it was a pretty exciting dish, different and very tasty! I ate it over angel hair pasta. mmmmmm. I'd totally cook this again! Thanks so much for the unique and tasty recipe!! ;)b