Better baked beans

I remember my first encounter with baked beans. Slaving away in a hotel in Eastbourne, working as a waitress I was serving full English breakfast every morning. Fried breakfast seemed strange. And beans? Bleurgh.
Silly me! As soon as I tried them, our love affair began. Tasty. Healthy. Perfect for breakfast with a slice of wholemeal toast. Yum.
As soon as I saw a recipe for better baked beans in one of my recipe books I knew it would be right up my street. It's got beans. And bacon. And is served with baked potatoes. Comfort food at its best.

Now, a little side note. I realised that a lot of the recipes I posted so far use bacon. Mhmm. This might make you think I'm sponsored by Association of British Bacon Producers (I just totally made that name up). This is not the case. I just like bacon, ok? ;)

To make enough Better Baked Beans for two you'll need:

3 strips of streaky bacon, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp sugar (brown or white)
400g can chopped tomatoes
200ml vegetable stock
410g can of cannellini, butter or haricot beans, drained
salt, pepper, dried oregano or basil
1 tbsp oil

500 g potatoes, cut into wedges (I used Charlotte potatoes)
1 tbsp white flour
1/2 cayenne pepper/cajun seasoning or paprika
1tsp dried rosemary or thyme
2 tsp of oil

Start off by heating up the oven to 190-200 degrees. Put potato wedges in a plastic freezer bag, add flour, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, herbs and 2 teaspoons of oil, tie the bag and shake until the potatoes are covered. Spread on a baking tray lined with baking parchment, place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.

Now, while the potatoes are roasting, fry bacon and onion with a bit of oil (about 5 minutes).

Add tomatoes, a teaspoon of sugar (to cut through the sourness of tomatoes), herbs, salt and pepper and stock.

Simmer for 10 minutes and add drained beans. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes.

Done! Serve topped with roasted potatoes.

Place yourself on a sofa and relax.