Gigantes Plaki
Big white beans baked in tomato and olive oil until the sauce reduces to a jammy skin and the beans turn creamy.
- Prep
- 20m
- Cook
- 2h 10m
- Waiting
- 12h
- Total
- 14h 30m
- Serves
- 6
- Effort
- Moderate
Method
Tinned butter beans and a shorter bake — you lose the silky texture that only slow-cooked dried beans give, and gain two and a half hours.
Tap a step number to mark it done. Tap an ingredient once for got it, twice for need it.
| 400 g | Soak overnight in cold water 12h | Simmer the soaked beans until tender, 50 to 60 minutes 1h Salt only in the last ten minutes — earlier and the skins toughen before the insides soften. | Combine the beans and sauce in a wide dish with a ladle of the bean water 5m Wide and shallow, not deep. Evaporation is what concentrates the sauce. | Bake uncovered at 180°C / 350°F for 70 minutes until the top browns and the sauce thickens 1h 10m Do not stir once it goes in. The dry skin that forms on top is the best part of the dish. | |
| to cover by 8 cm | |||||
| 2 | |||||
| 2 | Sweat until soft and sweet, then add the tomatoes and cook 15 minutes 30m | ||||
| 1 | |||||
| 2 sticks | |||||
| 120 ml | |||||
| 4 cloves | |||||
| 400 g | |||||
| 2 tbsp | |||||
| 2 tsp | |||||
| 1 tsp | |||||
| 2 tsp | |||||
| a handful | |||||
| a small handful | |||||
-
Soak overnight in cold water
12h- dried gigantes or butter beans 400 g
- cold water to cover by 8 cm
-
Simmer the soaked beans until tender, 50 to 60 minutes
1h- from 1 Soak overnight in cold water
- bay leaves 2
Salt only in the last ten minutes — earlier and the skins toughen before the insides soften.
-
Sweat until soft and sweet, then add the tomatoes and cook 15 minutes
30m- onions 2
- carrot 1
- celery 2 sticks
- extra virgin olive oil 120 ml
- garlic 4 cloves
- tinned chopped tomatoes 400 g
- tomato purée 2 tbsp
- dried oregano 2 tsp
- sweet paprika 1 tsp
- fine salt 2 tsp
-
Combine the beans and sauce in a wide dish with a ladle of the bean water
5m- from 2 Simmer the soaked beans until tender, 50 to 60 minutes
- from 3 Sweat until soft and sweet, then add the tomatoes and cook 15 minutes
Wide and shallow, not deep. Evaporation is what concentrates the sauce.
-
Bake uncovered at 180°C / 350°F for 70 minutes until the top browns and the sauce thickens
1h 10m- from 4 Combine the beans and sauce in a wide dish with a ladle of the bean water
- flat-leaf parsley a handful
- dill (optional) a small handful
Do not stir once it goes in. The dry skin that forms on top is the best part of the dish.
| 2 x 400 g tins | Simmer the sauce 10 minutes, then fold the drained beans through 15m A splash of water from the tin loosens it — the beans will absorb some in the oven. | Bake at 200°C / 400°F for 35 minutes until the edges catch 35m The higher heat compensates for the shorter time, so you still get the browned skin on top. | |
| 1 | |||
| 3 cloves | |||
| 100 ml | |||
| 400 g | |||
| 2 tbsp | |||
| 2 tsp | |||
| 1 1/2 tsp | |||
| a handful |
-
Simmer the sauce 10 minutes, then fold the drained beans through
15m- tinned butter beans 2 x 400 g tins
- onion 1
- garlic 3 cloves
- extra virgin olive oil 100 ml
- tinned chopped tomatoes 400 g
- tomato purée 2 tbsp
- dried oregano 2 tsp
- fine salt 1 1/2 tsp
A splash of water from the tin loosens it — the beans will absorb some in the oven.
-
Bake at 200°C / 400°F for 35 minutes until the edges catch
35m- from 1 Simmer the sauce 10 minutes, then fold the drained beans through
- flat-leaf parsley a handful
The higher heat compensates for the shorter time, so you still get the browned skin on top.
Why they finish in the oven
A pan simmers from below and the liquid keeps circulating, so the sauce stays thin however long you leave it. An open dish in the oven loses water from the whole surface at once, and as it goes the tomato sugars concentrate and the top layer of beans dries just enough to brown. You end up with two textures from one dish.
Salting late is the other lever. Calcium and magnesium in hard water, plus early salt, cross-link the pectin in bean skins and leave them stubborn.
Notes
- If the beans are old they may never soften. Buy from somewhere with turnover.
- Keep the cooking water; it is starchy and thickens the sauce.
- Cool to room temperature before eating. Hot, the oil tastes greasy.