Homemade Baked Beans and Roasted Sausages

Serves 6

Obviously this does not have the scary theme going on, but if you are looking for something to serve up at Halloween or for Bonfire Night, home cooked baked beans are a revelation.

So delicious and easy to make. You can opt to use dried beans and soak them, or you can use pre-soaked and cooked tinned or in jars. This is a great way to use up a surplus of ripe tomatoes. The purist will remove the seeds & skin from the tomato – I blitz the whole tomato in a blender. You can buy ready prepared passata.

I would usually wash and drain the beans but I have chosen to use a brand “The Bold Bean Co” – the beans are set in bean stock, so everything was added to the bean pot. I was however guarded about the amount of salt I added.

This recipe freezes well, so if you don’t need the full quantity, batch freeze. Great for winter lunch boxes!!!

The Bold Bean Company

OBVIOUSLY – TO GO ALL SPOOKY – SERVE WITH A PILE OF CHEESY MONSTER MASH!!

Ingredients

• Butchers pork sausages (large) 2 per person.
• 500g/1lb haricot beans (white beans)
• 1 onion, peeled and cut into quarters
• 2 bay leaves
• heaped teaspoon of dried thyme or a large bunch of fresh
• 200g /8oz smoked bacon lardons
• 150ml /6fl oz maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 400ml passata – sieved tomato (in the US look for tomato purée)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Foodie Notes: For Chilli beans add 2 x finely chopped red chillies

Instructions

You can bake these beans in the oven at 150’c/300’f/gas 2, but I used the “high” setting on my slow cooker and cooked them for 4 hours.

Tip the beans into the chosen cooking pot – large oven safe pot if using the oven, or the pot of your slow cooker. Add the onion, bay leaves and thyme, the passata (tomato puree), mustard & maple syrup. Scatter the lardons over the top and season with salt and pepper. Swill out your tomato container with 150ml water and add to the pot.

Give the pot contents a gentle stir to combine the ingredients and cook for 4 hours, checking every now and again

If the sauce is cooking down too quickly add more water. When ready the beans should be coated with a lovely thick, but still runny, sauce. Check the seasoning. Leave on the “stay warm” setting of the slow cooker or reduce the temperature of your oven, while you cook the sausages to accompany the beans.

If you have used fresh thyme remove the stalks and the bay leaves before serving.

I serve mine rustic style. The cooked, roasted sausages join the beans in the cooking pot, which is taken to the table, with a pot full of creamy mash or baked potatoes and grated cheddar cheese. Perfect Monster Mash!

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