Baked beans by Heston Blumenthal

[Guest guest]

Baked beans by Heston Blumenthal

 

Serves 4

Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time over 2 hours

 

Buy the best-quality pulses you can, and just have a glance through the packet

to make sure there are as few cracks in the beans as possible. Once made, these

beans will keep for a few weeks.

Ingredients

For the tomato fondue

1 onion, very finely chopped

125ml/4fl oz extra virgin olive oil

½ star anise

2 cloves

1 heaped tsp coriander seeds, lightly crushed

2 cloves garlic, minced

bouquet garni consisting of thyme, celery leaf, parsley and bay leaf tied with a

strip of leek

650g/1lb 6oz best-quality tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and chopped, the juices

strained and reserved

a few drops of Tabasco

a few drops of Vegetarian Worcestershire sauce

2 tsp tomato ketchup

25ml/1fl oz best-quality sherry vinegar

1 lemon, zest only

10 strands of saffron (optional)

For the beans

200g/7oz dried haricot beans

1 onion, halved and studded with 2 cloves

3 carrots, halved lengthways

3 cloves garlic

bouquet garni (thyme, rosemary, bay leaf)

1 stick of celery

1 leek, cut crossways into 3 pieces

75g/3oz unsalted butter

salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

 

Method

1. For the fondue, sweat the onion in the olive oil with the spices for 10

minutes on a very low heat. Add the garlic and bouquet garni and continue to

sweat for another 5 minutes.

2. Add the tomatoes, tomato juices, Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce, ketchup

and vinegar, then add the lemon zest and cook on a very low heat for 3-4 hours,

adding the saffron, if using, 45 minutes into the cooking time. When cooked, the

fondue should be dark red and almost jam-like. Don't worry if any oil has split

out of the mix, it can just be poured off. In fact this oil will be delicious

and can be used in many dishes.

3. Preheat the oven to 110C/225F/Gas ½. Purée the tomato fondue in a blender

with a little of the oil from the fondue. There should be enough purée to cover

the beans by 1-2cm.

4. Put the beans into an ovenproof dish. Cover with the tomato purée and add all

the other ingredients. Season generously.

5. Cover the dish, using kitchen foil if you have no lid, and place it in the

oven. After 3 hours, turn off the oven and leave the beans to cool down. Serve.