Fasolia plaki — oven-baked white beans with tomato and oregano

Name: Fasolia plaki — oven-baked white beans with tomato and oregano
Prep time: 25 min
Total time: 70 min
Yield: 2 servings
Cuisine: Israeli and Mediterranean
Ingredients: 720 g Tinned cannellini beans (400 g tin) (3 × 400 g tins, giving 720 g rinsed and drained beans); 400 g Tinned chopped tomatoes (400 g tin) (1 tin with its juice); 200 g Yellow onions (1 large onion); 80 g Carrots (1 medium carrot); 60 g Celery (1 stalk); 15 g Garlic (3 cloves); 20 g Double-concentrated tomato purée (1 generous tbsp); 70 g Extra virgin olive oil (7 tbsp: 50 g to sweat the vegetables, 20 g to drizzle over at serving); 4 g White sugar (1 level tsp to balance the acidity of the tomatoes (or honey)); 1 g Dried bay leaves (2 leaves, removed before serving); 3 g Dried oregano (1 level tbsp, crumbled between your palms); 7 g Fine salt (1 generous tsp: 5 g in the sauce, 1–2 g to adjust the seasoning); 1 g Ground black pepper (½ tsp); 150 g Water (150 ml, plus a little hot water if the sauce dries out in the oven); 20 g Flat-leaf parsley (1 small bunch: half in the sauce, half to serve); 10 g Fresh dill (a few sprigs, with the parsley); 10 g Red wine vinegar (2 tsp, to finish); 160 g Bread (baguette or country loaf) (4 × 40 g slices of kosher pareve bread, toasted, to mop up the sauce)

pareve main dish · Israeli and Mediterranean · 2/5 · easy · 70 min, including 25 hands-on

White beans bake uncovered in a tomato sauce with onion, carrot and celery softened in olive oil, garlic, bay and oregano, until the sauce is rich and concentrated and the top is golden; finished with olive oil and parsley.

Ingredients for two

720 g	Tinned cannellini beans (400 g tin) 3 × 400 g tins, giving 720 g rinsed and drained beans
400 g	Tinned chopped tomatoes (400 g tin) 1 tin with its juice
200 g	Yellow onions 1 large onion
80 g	Carrots 1 medium carrot
60 g	Celery 1 stalk
15 g	Garlic 3 cloves
20 g	Double-concentrated tomato purée 1 generous tbsp
70 g	Extra virgin olive oil 7 tbsp: 50 g to sweat the vegetables, 20 g to drizzle over at serving
4 g	White sugar 1 level tsp to balance the acidity of the tomatoes (or honey)
1 g	Dried bay leaves 2 leaves, removed before serving
3 g	Dried oregano 1 level tbsp, crumbled between your palms
7 g	Fine salt 1 generous tsp: 5 g in the sauce, 1–2 g to adjust the seasoning
1 g	Ground black pepper ½ tsp
150 g	Water 150 ml, plus a little hot water if the sauce dries out in the oven
20 g	Flat-leaf parsley 1 small bunch: half in the sauce, half to serve
10 g	Fresh dill a few sprigs, with the parsley (optional)
10 g	Red wine vinegar 2 tsp, to finish
160 g	Bread (baguette or country loaf) 4 × 40 g slices of kosher pareve bread, toasted, to mop up the sauce

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C fan. Rinse and drain the beans. Peel and halve the onion, then slice thinly (about 3 mm). Peel the carrot and cut into 5 mm dice, along with the celery stalk. Peel and finely slice the garlic. Roughly chop the parsley (and dill), reserving half to serve.
Heat 50 g oil in a 28 cm ovenproof sauté pan over a medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery and sweat, uncovered, for 8–10 minutes, stirring occasionally: the onion should be translucent and tender, golden at the edges, and the carrot should yield under the spoon.
Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute, until fragrant but not browned. Add the tomato purée and stir in the oil for 1 minute: it will darken and catch slightly on the bottom.
Pour in the tomatoes and their juice and the 150 g water, scraping the bottom. Add the sugar, bay leaves, 5 g salt, pepper and half the parsley (and dill), then crumble the oregano between your palms over the pan. Simmer for 5 minutes over a medium heat. Gently fold in the beans without crushing them: the sauce should just cover them. (If you do not have an ovenproof sauté pan, use a frying pan for these steps, then transfer everything to a 30 × 22 cm baking dish.)
Bake uncovered on the middle shelf for 35–40 minutes, without stirring. It is ready when the sauce has thickened and coats the beans, with slow, thick bubbles; its level should have dropped by a good centimetre at the edges, where it is lightly coloured, and the beans on top should be slightly wrinkled and golden. If the bottom becomes exposed before then, pour 50 g hot water around the edges. Toast the bread while the beans cook.
Remove the pan from the oven and leave to stand uncovered for 5 minutes: the sauce will thicken further. Remove the bay leaves. Taste the sauce and adjust the salt (1–2 g): it should be well seasoned. Drizzle with the vinegar and the remaining 20 g olive oil, sprinkle with the remaining parsley (and dill), and do not stir.
Serve half the beans per person, generously coated in sauce, with 2 slices of toast to mop it up.

Variants and their steps remain below the recipe.

Lighter version

How the taste changes:

The beans stay tender, but the tomato sauce is less richly cooked in oil and feels less velvety in the mouth. The uncooked finishing oil preserves an olive aroma, while the acidity of the tomato and vinegar stands out more.

Extra virgin olive oil : 40 g
Bread (baguette or country loaf) : 80 g

In step 2, sweat the vegetables in 30 g oil over a medium-low heat, stirring more often.

In step 6, finish with 10 g olive oil added after cooking. Serve with 1 slice of bread per person.

Less oil for sweating, with the finishing drizzle retained: the dish stays tender, with less bread for the sauce.

On your plate

Recipe

934 kcal · protein 35 g · carbs 103 g · fat 40 g

Quantities per person

360 g Tinned cannellini beans (400 g tin)
200 g Tinned chopped tomatoes (400 g tin)
100 g Yellow onions
40 g Carrots
30 g Celery
7.5 g Garlic
10 g Double-concentrated tomato purée
35 g Extra virgin olive oil
2 g White sugar
0.5 g Dried bay leaves
1.5 g Dried oregano
3.5 g Fine salt
0.5 g Ground black pepper
75 g Water
10 g Flat-leaf parsley
5 g Fresh dill
5 g Red wine vinegar
80 g Bread (baguette or country loaf)

Cooking tips

This is a lathera, a Greek dish cooked in plenty of olive oil: give the vegetables their full sweating time, as this is where the flavour develops. A weekend or make-ahead dish, it keeps for 3 days in the fridge and tastes even better the next day, lukewarm or at room temperature, making it ideal for Saturday. To reheat, cover and bake for 15 minutes at 180°C with 2 tbsp water. Add the finishing olive oil, vinegar and parsley only when serving. Use jarred gigantes (giant beans) or butter beans at the same drained weight to make gigantes plaki, which is even creamier. Crumble over 80 g feta straight from the oven for the Greek way of serving it; this makes the meal dairy (no meat at this meal).

Equipment : oven, 28 cm ovenproof sauté pan (without a plastic handle), or a frying pan and a 30 × 22 cm baking dish, colander, knife and chopping board, wooden spoon, toaster

Greek fasolia plaki made with tinned beans; very close to the fasulia of the Jewish communities of Turkey and the Balkans, widely eaten in Israel.

Fasolia plaki — oven-baked white beans with tomato and oregano

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On your plate

Recipe

Cooking tips

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