There are some things you don’t mess with. Tinned beans, bright-orange and sloppy, are hard to beat, but these – sticky, sweet and spicy – just might make you change your mind
Ingredients
• 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
• 8 rashers smoked streaky bacon, snipped into pieces
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and bashed
• 25g dark muscovado sugar
• 2 tablespoons treacle, (molasses)
• 100ml cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons mustard powder
• 500g tomato passata
• 1 shot espresso
• 400g tin haricot beans, rinsed and drained
• 400g tin pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 6 slices white farmhouse bread
• butter, for spreading
• salt
• freshly ground black pepper
Method
1 Heat the oil in a large heavy-based pan or casserole dish over a high heat. Add the bacon to the pan and cook for about 8 minutes until just starting to crisp.
2 Tip in the onion and cook gently for 5 minutes, until softened.
3 Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds, followed by the sugar and treacle, and stir until dissolved.
4 Stir in the vinegar, mustard powder, passata and espresso. Bring the boil and simmer for 20 minutes, or until thickened.
5 Tip in the drained beans and cook gently for 15 – 20 minutes to let the flavours develop. 6 Add a little water if the sauce becomes too thick, taste and season.
7 Toast the bread and spread with butter, then spoon over the beans.
Recipe extracted from Posh Toast © Quadrille Publishing.
