Our take on Boston Baked Beans uses pork belly for richness and fresh herbs for flavour. This recipe is great for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Serves: 6
INGREDIENTS
250 grams dried haricot beans
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, sliced
2 teaspoons finely
chopped rosemary
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1½ tablespoons dry English mustard
½ teaspoon ground cloves
⅓ cup dark muscovado sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
400 grams belly pork, skin on, cut into large pieces
1 x 400 gram tin Italian tomatoes, crushed with their juices
METHOD
Put the beans in a large bowl, cover with cold water and soak overnight. Drain and discard the water.
Place in a large saucepan, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Simmer for 40 minutes. Strain the beans and reserve the cooking water.
Preheat the oven to 150°C.
Heat the oil in a heavy-based oven-proof casserole or saucepan. Add the onions and rosemary and cook for 10 minutes until softened and starting to colour. Add the garlic, mustard, ground cloves, sugar and the Worcestershire sauce and cook for 1 minute. Add the vinegar and bay leaves and stir together. Add the beans and the pork belly. Add enough of the reserved cooking water to cover the beans. Bring to the boil, cover and place in the oven to cook for 4 hours. Check the beans every hour, stirring in more water if necessary.
After 4 hours add the tomatoes, cover and cook for another 1-2 hours. Cooking time depends on the freshness of the beans. There should always be some liquid around the beans but the end result should be a thick, glossy sauce.
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In Dream Escape, we journey from Japan and Morocco to Italy, India and beyond, sharing recipes inspired by travel, heritage and comfort. We celebrate the champions of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards, explore the stories and recipes of chefs shaped by their cultural roots, and warm up with everything from West African soups and slow-braised lamb to porchetta, butter chicken and beef noodle soup. Alongside destination menus, Scandinavian sweets and cosy pub classics, Chrisanne Terblanche shares her favourite street-side dining spots in Bangkok, while Yvonne Lorkin explores red wine varietals. This issue, we invite you to slow down, turn the pages and escape through food.