Greek Baked Giant Beans

Would our white “Aztec” beans work in this dish?

Fasolia gigantes are very large white beans much loved in Greek cooking, and I wondered if the white-seeded “Aztec” runner beans that some of us grow would work instead in this recipe which I found in Rena Salaman’s book Greek Food.  I tried it out on a Greek friend of mine, and the result was “just as it should be”.

Serves four people as a main course.

  • 2 cups dried “Aztec” beans, or about 4 cups of fresh ones
  • Half a cup of good olive oil
  • 2 medium onions, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves of finely chopped garlic
  • 1 tablespoon oregano
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 2 tins of tomatoes or about 1kg of fresh ones
  • Salt and black pepper
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley

If you are using dried beans, soak them overnight, drain, then boil until just tender, but not too soft. Fresh beans just need boiling for a few minutes and draining. Heat the olive oil and fry the onions, garlic and dried herbs until they start to be golden. Add the tomatoes and their juice and a bit of water and mash them up a bit and cook for 30 minutes or so, until the sauce starts to thicken. Spread the beans across the bottom of a nice oven dish or casserole. Mix the parsley into the sauce, pour it over the beans and mix them all together.  Sprinkle a bit of oregano and black pepper on top and bake at 180 degC for 40 minutes, until they start to look a bit crisp on top.

From Joe Foster