These rustic, café style baked beans are perfect for a hearty breakfast or easy dinner and are a great way of incorporating more beans in your diet. They’re full of rich tomato, garlic, bacon and herb flavours and are so delicious that even a traditional canned baked bean hater, like myself, will enjoy them.

Ingredients (serves 4-6)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
100g bacon, chopped*
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
½ teaspoon dried oregano
400g tin chopped tomatoes
2 x 400g tins cannellini beans, rinsed
Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper
Thick-cut bread (I like pane di casa), to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 160°C (140°C fan-forced).

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until the onion is soft. Add the bacon and cook for a further 5 minutes or until crisp. Add the garlic, thyme, and oregano and cook for a further minute.

Add the tomatoes and half a cup of water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the rinsed beans, season with salt and pepper and transfer into a large casserole dish with a lid. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes.

While the beans are baking, toast the bread.

To serve, top two pieces of toast with the beans. Add further salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Adapted from Bill Granger’s Everyday

*Omit to make it vegetarian