The miles are upping and I’m focusing a little more on nutrition. As part of this, I’m getting back to cooking food with flavour that can also support recovery – homemade baked beans fits the bill.
I make a big batch of this stuff to have for breakfasts and after long runs to help with recovery and also to keep me happy. I throw in some garlic and chilli to give it a bit of a kick.
- One onion finely chopped
- 1 tbsp oil
- Half a head of celery, washed and roughly chopped – you can include the leaves
- Cube of vegetable stock
- 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 1 tsp hot chilli powder
- 200g dried cannellini beans, soaked for 6 hours or so; or 2 tins of cannellini beans, washed and drained
- 1 tin crushed or chopped tomatoes
- Pinch of sugar (optional)
- Small bunch of parsley, roughly chopped.
If you using dried beans, soak for 6 – 12 hours, wash and drain. Put in a large saucepan with plenty of water and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and let cook for 30 mins or so. Test and when almost cooked, put in a generous few pinches of salt. Once cooked, drain.
Heat a heavy saucepan at medium temperature with the oil. Throw in the onion and celery. Cook until the onion is almost translucent.
Add in the stock, garlic, chilli and beans and stir until well mixed, followed by the tomatoes. Reduce the heat and let the beans simmer. It’s at this point you might want to add a pinch of sugar as tomatoes and chilli can sometime taste a little harsh – this helps mellow the flavour.
Let cook for about 30 mins. Once done, mix in the parsley.
This can be happily eaten by itself. Or, if you’re looking for a recovery meal, thrown in a few chopped veg sausages and serve with rice.
Enjoy!
