Do you love to try new recipes?
Or maybe you’re just getting started in the kitchen and want to expand your repertoire.
The fourth instalment of Bathie’s Cookbook Club is here: we introduce one new recipe book a month, with your chance to win a cookbook and meet the author in our Parramatta studio. Terms and conditions apply.
Our third cookbook is Home Food by Elizabeth Hewson. She’ll be in the studio with Chris and two ABC Radio listeners who are having a crack at one of the dishes from the book. Make sure you tune in from 11:00AM on May 31.
If you’d like to cook along at home, have a go at Elizabeth’s cheesy baked beans recipe below, happy cooking!
A nostalgic, sticky, bubbling pot of cheesy baked beans
This is a dish the whole family can gather around and enjoy. It has the lava-like texture of classic canned baked beans, with a cheesy, golden crust. Serve with crusty bread, a baked potato or rice – or for a Mexican take, with corn chips or tortillas and fresh coriander, sour cream and avocado.
Serves 2-4
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ teaspoon smoky paprika
4 tablespoons tomato paste (concentrated purée)
2 × 400 g (14 oz) cans butter beans (or cannellini or kidney), drained
1½ cups (375 ml) water or chicken stock
1 teaspoon soft brown sugar
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
½ teaspoon cornflour (cornstarch)
150 g (5½ oz) mozzarella and/or cheddar – or a combo of both – torn or coarsely grated
In a 25 cm (10 inch) or so ovenproof frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium–high heat. Fry the garlic for 30 seconds, then add the paprika and fry for 30–40 seconds. Follow with the tomato paste and cook, stirring, until the paste is a deep red, about 2 minutes. Keep moving it around the pan to keep the garlic from burning.
Pop your grill on full whack (or oven at 220˚C/425˚F fan-forced).
Add the beans, water or stock, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce, along with generous pinches of salt and freshly ground black pepper, and stir to combine. In a small bowl, combine the cornflour with about 1 teaspoon of the liquid from the beans. Stir to create a slurry, then set aside.
Let the beans simmer for 5 minutes to thicken slightly. Add the cornflour slurry and stir to combine. The mixture will thicken, giving you that lovely gloopy texture. Turn off the heat.
Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top, then pop the pan under the grill (or in the oven) until the cheese has melted and browned in spots, 5–10 minutes. Serve immediately.
Get ahead
This can be prepped ahead. Make the beans up to the point where you’re about to add the cheese, then it can sit in the fridge
for 3 days. Reheat on the stove (it might need a little extra water or stock), then carry on with the cheese, and grill. You could freeze the beans before you add the cheese, too. Just defrost, reheat on stove, top with cheese and grill.
Leftovers
This will keep for 3 days in the fridge