Homemade Baked Beans with Vegan Bacon – VeganMoFo Day 24

Today’s VeganMoFo prompt is about food to bring to a Pot Luck. Now I have never been to a pot luck, and I don’t even know if they’re a thing here in the UK, but from what I’ve seen, it’s a bit like a buffet only more hot food. People bring their own food and everyone helps themselves. Stews and casseroles seem to be a common thing. I wanted to inject a bit of a British flavour to it, so I made baked beans.

This may be a shocking turn of events, but I don’t actually like canned baked beans. I know, revoke my British citizenship (go for it, I don’t mind). But homemade ones are different. I added vegan bacon to these beans – I actually made my own using this recipe, which is my favourite, but shop bought vegan bacon also works well!

You could serve this as part of a breakfast, or on the side of a roast, or just like me have it on bagels. I’ll be honest, I think everything is better on bagels!

Baked Beans and Vegan Bacon

• Servings: 2
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Ingredients

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 packet of vegan bacon, diced
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1 tin white kidney beans, drained & rinsed
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• salt + pepper

Directions

1. Begin by frying the onion and garlic in a little oil until translucent.
2. Add the diced bacon, and fry for a few minutes more until starting to brown.
3. Add the paprika, herbs, and tomato puree and stir through.
4. Stir in the kidney beans, stock, and chopped tomatoes, and bring to a simmer.
5. Simmer for 10 minutes until thickened. Season to taste!

 

Mediterranean Style Butter Beans

I don’t know about you, but where I am, the weather is pretty dire. Cold, rainy, and generally grey. We don’t even have snow to make snowmen out of! It did snow a little on Sunday, but only for about ten minutes and nothing landed on the ground. If you wanted to throw a snowball, it’d be made of a single snowflake.

Anyway, miserable weather calls for non-miserable food! This baked butter bean dish is warm and comforting with a hint of the Mediterranean (don’t you wish you were sunbathing there right now?). I served it with oven baked potatoes and it just hit the spot!

You start by cooking the vegetables on the stove until they’re cooked nicely down, onions, garlic, and shredded carrots with some dried herbs and tinned tomatoes. Grating carrots is a bit annoying, true, but they really add to the dish – both in thickening the stew, adding a subtle sweetness, and also of course plenty of Vitamin A!

Once nicely cooked down, you add the beans, cook for a couple more minutes, then transfer into a casserole dish. Bake in the oven for half an hour, allowing the top to crisp slightly and the flavours to really meld together – and then serve! The butter beans give a creamy texture to the stew.

• Servings: 2
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Ingredients

• 1 can butter beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2-3 large carrots, grated (about 300g)
• 1 heaped tsp dried oregano
• 1 heaped tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp cayenne powder
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• Salt & Pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200C/190C Fan/400F/Gas Mark 6
1. First, fry the onions and garlic in the olive oil until translucent.
2. Next stir through the grated carrots and cook for 2-3 minutes until they begin to soften.
3. Stir through the remaining ingredients except the butter beans, and cook for 10 minutes on a medium heat.
4. Add the butter beans and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until the stew is thickened.
5. Transfer the mixture into a baking dish, and place in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
6. Serve with bread, or potatoes, or rice – however you like!

Homemade Baked Beans with Potato Wedges

Baked beans and potatoes, such a classic British meal. I’ve (shock, horror) never been a fan of the canned stuff but homemade ones can be lovely. This recipe came from a really old copy of either BBC Good Food or BBC Vegetarian magazine, from a long time ago at least. I’ve adapted it quite a bit because the original recipe called for veggie bacon and all sorts that I never have on hand.

I make the potatoes spiced with a bit of paprika, cumin, and garam masala which may not be traditional but gives them a lovely taste! They come out crispy and with a hint of spice to them which is really nice.

I didn’t take many photos of this meal as it was getting dark and I couldn’t find anything pretty to take photos of! Our kitchen has a few lights that don’t work and it’s perpetually in a sort of dusk state…which isn’t that great when you’re looking to snap your food. But take my word for it, it is tasty.

Homemade Baked Beans & Potato Wedges

• Servings: 2
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Ingredients

For the Wedges
• 350g potatoes, cut into wedges.
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp smoky paprika
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp cayenne powder

For the Beans

• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp smoky paprika
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• 150ml vegetable stock
• 1 can white beans
• Salt & Pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200C (400F)
2. In your roasting tin, mix the potato spices and oil to form a paste.
3. Add the potatoes into the tin, mixing with your hands to make sure they are well coated in the spice mix.
4. Bake the potatoes in the oven for 30 minutes, or until crisp.
5. Meanwhile, fry the onion and garlic in a pan until softened.
6. Stir through the paprika, mixed herbs, sugar, cider vinegar, tomato puree, and seasoning.
7. Mix in the can of tomatoes and vegetable stock, and simmer for 10 minutes.
8. Add the drained beans and continue to simmer until the sauce thickens and the potatoes in the oven are cooked.
9. Serve the beans with the potatoes and enjoy!