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Beans, Beans, The Musical Fruit… {Recipe} Baked Beans

Yes I know the title is immature. Every time I think about baked beans, well Bart Simpson just jumps into my head. The ability to quote the Simpsons in almost any situation (whether appropriate or not) is one of my many talents.

When I first met Country Boy, he and his best mate were big Simpson fans. So much so that they had a 24 hour Simpsons Appreciation Day (or SAD for short – appropriately!) complete with 24 hours of back to back episodes, and Simpsons food. Think pork chops, donuts, Duff beer etc. I didn’t stay around for the entire time (I had a Chemistry final a few days later), so I’m not sure if baked beans were served or not.

Later, when Country Boy and I started going out, I got the ‘opportunity’ to learn many Simpsonisms (totally a word), that still stay with me today.

Anyway…

Country Boy has collected lots of dried beans from the garden, which we have sitting in some jars on the mantle. I mentioned to him that I had never made home made baked beans before, but they were meant to be really yummy and not at all like the canned version (which I find disgusting!). Last week I came home to find that Country Boy had made baked beans from scratch. Best husband ever… and best baked beans ever too! Double win!

Country Boy based his recipe on one by Stephanie Alexander in her cooks companion, but with a few small changes to accommodate the ingredients we had at home.

Ingredients
375g dried beans, soaked in water over night (borlotti beans are traditionally used)
2T olive oil
1 large onion diced
5 cloves of garlic crushed
2 carrots diced
2 rashers streaky bacon, coarsely diced
1 capsicum diced into 2cm cubes
1x 400g can diced tomatoes – pureed
1 bay leaf
1 sprig thyme
1t paprika
1t ground coriander
3T maple syrup
Salt and pepper

Method
1. Preheat oven to 160*c
2. Rinse soaked beans, place in a saucepan of fresh cold water and bring to the boil. Strain and rinse again.
3. Heat oil in an enamel pot and saute onion, garlic, carrot, and bacon for 5 minutes until the onion is clear.
4. Add capsicum and cook for a further minute.
5. Add all remaining ingredients except maple syrup.
6. Add enough water to just cover the beans.
7. Cover with lid and bake for at least 4 hours.
8. Stir after 2 hours, check to make sure it is still quite sloppy. Add a little more water if needed.
9. After 4 hours, stir in the maple syrup. The sauce should be thick and rich. Add a little water if needed. If too sloppy, remove the lid, and return the oven for a few minutes to reduce.
10. Adjust the seasoning. Remove thyme and bay leaf.
11. Serve.

Not the best photo

This is beautiful, cold weather, weekend cooking at it’s best. Whack it in the oven at lunch time then spend the afternoon in front of the fire reading and feeling smug because you have cooked a beautiful, tasty and healthy meal. Well that is what we do anyway!

P.S. Contrary to Bart Simpson’s assertions, these baked beans will not make you ‘musical’.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anne @ Domesblissity says

    May 12, 2013 at 11:54 pm

    This is my kind of meal Jo. It doesn't matter what I feed my son, he will always be 'musical'. LOL

    Anne xx

    Reply
    • Jo says

      May 13, 2013 at 11:21 am

      It must be a 'boy' thing Anne, my boy is the same lol

      Reply

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Hi, I’m Jo

I'm a city girl turned farmer's wife, school teacher, ideas woman, and mum to three country kids. Country Life Experiment is all about simple country living, growing and making our own food, and life on our family farm in rural Australia. Join me as I give country living a try. Read more...
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Team work makes the dream work. We were asked rec Team work makes the dream work. 
We were asked recently whether we “make” our kids work on the farm. The answer is “of course not”. Having said that, all three love to help out whenever they can. They all work hard because they want to; because they take pride in working hard and contributing in a meaningful way to our family life; because they love living on our farm and don’t remember life before we moved here. Whether it be planting trees or doing sheep work or feeding animals, they all want to be involved. As a parent, nothing is better than watching them grow in skill and confidence as they work along side you. We’re so glad that we get to spend time with our three, working together.
We’ve had an unexpected addition to the family ☘️🐑. She is a lot easier to look after than the other family members but she does try to escape her yard and head butt people. Poddy lambs are super cute but they tend to think they are a human. Clover the lamb is sure that Meg is her mum. Can’t think why… 🤔🤣
The perfect way to end a long winter weekend: toge The perfect way to end a long winter weekend: together, cooking damper around the remains of the bonfire.
It’s been a tough few weeks on the farm. We got It’s been a tough few weeks on the farm. We got through shearing without a hitch (thankfully 🙏) but we’ve had a run of the flu followed by Covid run through the family since then. The kids and I have tested positive (this is my second time getting it 🦠) though so far C has managed to avoid it. There has been a lot of lying on the couch feeling pretty ordinary. Han had to reschedule her driving test for a 4th time due to Covid, which is disappointing for her because she wants her freedom and for us because it would be so much more convenient if she could drive herself places. Just to add in to the mix, our hot water system has chosen now as a good time to die so we’re on cold showers until we’re all out of iso. This is not meant to be a whinging post but sometimes life just sucks a bit and it’s good to be real. Fortunately, the sight of the fire going with a stack of wood next to it cheers us up. Things will improve soon. Onwards we go…
A picture perfect Autumn afternoon to end the scho A picture perfect Autumn afternoon to end the school holidays. We’ve been busy spending time with friends and family, harvesting the last of the summer produce, as well as a short escape to explore the big smoke. After the craziness of last term it was the break we all needed. It’s back to school for me tomorrow, and the kids are back on Wednesday. Shearing starts soon and so it’s all systems go over the next few weeks.
Covid has made some late changes to our weekend pl Covid has made some late changes to our weekend plans so we are embracing the unexpected and doing not much at home. Plenty of time for hanging out on the dam and enjoy the perfect weather.

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Hi, I’m Jo

City girl turned farmer's wife, school teacher, ideas woman, and mum to three country kids. Country Life Experiment is all about simple country living, growing and making our own food, and life on our family farm in rural Australia. Join me as I give country living a try. Read more...
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