Best Beans Ever

American taste buds lean towards sweet baked beans, of which I am not a fan. If you are looking for a porky baked bean dish with molasses and brown sugar in the ingredient list, this is not the recipe for you. If you are looking for a truly delicious bean dish, arguably the best beans ever, full of both fiber and flavor, get cooking.

The beans that you use will obviously have a huge impact here. Those of you who follow this blog know that I am a Rancho Gordo bean fanatic and I am currently slightly obsessed with their Good Mother Stallard beans, which I used here. Tarbais beans would be good too, as would navy beans. Use what you like, just ensure that you use dry beans.

This recipe makes 4 portions - one to eat for dinner, straight out of the oven, one to have on top of toast for lunch the next day, and two to freeze.

1 cup dried beans

1 medium white onion, peeled and chopped

1 cup tomato sauce (I use this, but you can use jarred)

2 tsps dry mustard

2 tsps sweet paprika

Bay leaf

1 Tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tsps Worcestershire sauce

2 tsps maple syrup

Salt to taste

Place the beans in a large bowl. Add 1/2 tsp of salt and boiling water to cover the beans. Set aside for a couple of hours to rehydrate the beans.

When you are ready to cook your beans, preheat the oven to 350.

While the oven is heating up, drain the beans and add them to an oven safe baking dish.

Stir in the onion, dry mustard, paprika, bay leaf, tomato sauce, and half a cup of water.

Cover, and cook for ninety minutes, stirring once at the halfway point and adding an additional 1/4 cup of water or so if it feels like the beans are getting dry. Add salt to the dish if you feel that they need more, keeping in mind that you still have to add the Worcestershire sauce, which is salty.

At the ninety minute mark, taste one of the beans and cook for an additional thirty minutes if they are not to your liking. I like my beans soft, but still retaining their shape and not mushy, and ninety minutes seems to get me there!

Remove the pan from the oven and stir in the Dijon mustard and the Worcestershire sauce.

These beans taste best if rested overnight before eating them as the beans absorb some of the cooking liquid and take on even more flavor. Don't forget to remove the bay leaf.