There are some classic recipes that if you go to various restaurants in Greece you are bound to see them in the Menu’s. “Gigantes Plaki” are one of them..
One of the mistakes that people usually do about the Greek Kitchen is to say that it has mainly meat dishes.
That is not correct and the Greek cuisine has some of the best vegetarian dishes that you can find. The only problem –for me personally- is that they take so long to prepare them if you want to make them right.
So unfortunately that is something that doesn’t fit with the rhythm of the modern life. The following recipe is a great example of that exactly. Even if I like that food really much it’s a really hard and time consuming to make. It needs a lot of preparation in order to be successful but…if you don’t try…you will never know how good it tastes…
INGREDIENTS FOR BEANS IN THE OVEN
- 1/2 kilo giant beans
- 2 onions
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 cup. olive oil
- 2 tablespoons concentrated tomato juice and some fresh tomato slices or canned
- 3 stalks celery
- 1/2 bunch chopped parsley
- 2-3 medium carrots, sliced
- salt, pepper, a pinch of cayenne and a little thyme
METHOD
- Soak the beans in water the night before.
- In a pot with water, put the beans to a boil.
- Drain and refill the pot with salted water and cook beans for 45-60 minutes until they are half done Strain
- In another pan fry the chopped onion and garlic with olive oil .
- Add the celery, parsley, carrots and tomato concentrate, dissolve with water, salt, thyme, and cayenne pepper and bring to a boil.
- Put the beans in an ovenproof dish with fresh tomatoes and top with the sauce we made with little oil and mix it with your hands. Then cook in the oven for about 45 minutes. They are eaten hot or cold.
Note: While its cooking you will need to add some water quite a few times. The beans will be cooking in the oven and inside the water but be careful not to really dry. You need to taste them every 10-15 minutes until they are as soft as you want them. When you feel its ok then you let it drink the water and serve it. A good combination is trimmed feta cheese. Also you can add carrots if you like in the recipe.
Good luck 🙂
