Beans Gigantes

Set your grill up for indirect cooking and aim for a temp of 130-150 degrees c.

This is such a great dish for sharing or indulging yourself alone, it can be eaten hot or cold and it keeps in the fridge for a week. If it lasts that long.

This is another recipe that you can adjust to you taste.

Equal weight of (I normally go with 250g);

Finely sliced Onions

Dried Gigante Beans (Soaked overnight and rinsed) or use tinned butter beans. In fact any bean will do, but the bigger the better.

Finely chopped Tomatoes (ideally fresh, removing husk and skins)

Chopped roasted red peppers

Gently cook this all down in a large pan with 4tbsp olive oil so the onions are translucent but not browned.

Seasoning

2 Tsp Oregano, 2 Tsp Thyme, 4 cloves garlic finely sliced, 2 bay leaves, 1 Tsp salt and 1 Tsp light muscovado sugar. Add to the onions and beans and turn so it is well mixed in, you want to try and avoid breaking the beans up. Stir in 2 Tbsp tomato puree.

Transfer to a dutch oven and add just enough chicken or vegetable stock to cover the ingredients by 1 cm then on the grill at 130-150 degrees C for about an hour.

Lift the lid and let the steam escape and you should be left with a delicious and unctuous dish that has such a wonderful aroma. If it has gone a little too dry, add some more water and gently fold in. If there is too much liquid, leave the lid off and put back on the heat.

Serve directly from the dish or transfer to a storage jar and keep in the fridge.

You can also tweak this dish by adding a chilli to the onions or maybe some good quality cooking chorizo which does add another dimension to this dish.