Gigantes Plaki (Greek Baked Beans)

Comforting and buttery gigantes plaki, or Greek large baked beans, with tomatoes and olive oil make a satisfying vegetarian dinner any evening of the week. Or, you’ll be able to serve them at room temperature over crusty bread as an appetizer!

Gigantes plaki is a basic Greek dish of tender baked beans, swimming in a chunky tomato sauce with numerous good further virgin olive oil.

The time period plaki, pronounced Plah-KEE, refers to a Greek cooking methodology the place the meals is baked or roasted with loads of tomatoes, veggies, and extra virgin olive oil. (Bear in mind this Greek baked fish with tomatoes and onions referred to as psari plaki? Properly, these Greek beans additionally belong to the plaki style).

I am grateful to Dorothy, a reader who e-mailed me a few baked bean casserole that her favourite Greek restaurant in Vancouver served. She turned me on to Gigantes plaki, or large Greek baked beans, which is actually a textbook Mediterranean diet meal the place a pair humble cans of beans are remodeled into dinner that’s satisfying and wholesome.

You possibly can by no means have sufficient bean recipes to avoid wasting dinner! I liked it a lot that I included the recipe in my cookbook.

Components to Make Gigantes Plaki

Gigantes plaki take only a handful of easy substances. There are three easy elements to this recipe: the beans, the chunky tomato sauce, and the garnish or ending touches. Here’s what you have to make large Greek beans:

Beans

As a result of conventional gigantes beans aren’t as simple to seek out, until you might have entry to a Greek or Mediterranean grocery retailer close to you, you should utilize massive butter beans, lima beans, or the biggest white beans yow will discover. And sure, canned beans are superb on this fast recipe.

Tomato sauce

You may want some good further virgin olive oil (like our peppery Early Harvest EVOO), a can of diced tomatoes, and chopped onions, carrots, celery, and garlic, which make the tomato sauce hearty and scrumptious. To season the sauce, you will want bay leaf, oregano, thyme, parsley, and a touch of cinnamon.

Garnish

I like to complete this dish with a very good drizzle of additional virgin olive oil and a few crumbled creamy feta. Or, omit the feta if you wish to preserve it vegan.

Methods to Make this Recipe

• This easy baked beans recipe begins with the chunky tomato sauce in a giant forged iron skillet or oven-safe pan. You may toss the onions, carrots, celery and garlic in a bit of additional virgin olive oil till softened, then you definitely’ll add the diced tomatoes from a can (with their juices) and season.
• From there, simply add the drained and well-rinsed can of beans (I used butter beans)to the sauce. Switch the pan to the oven and bake at 350°F for about 20 to half-hour or till the combination thickens and the beans are tremendous tender.
• When the gigates are prepared, prime them with a very good drizzle of olive oil and end with some crumbled feta cheese.

Gigantes Plaki: Mild Dinner or Snack

I am a giant fan of gigantes beans as a easy vegetarian dinner with nothing greater than a aspect of crusty bread and possibly a giant Greek salad. This white bean recipe additionally makes an amazing aspect subsequent to different issues like keftedes or baked chicken drumsticks.

However gigantes plaki are additionally typically served as mezze or an appetizer at room temperature over some bread. Easy and scrumptious!

Extra White Bean Recipes

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