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  • V

    Vegetarian

  • V*

    Vegetarian Option

  • Ve

    Vegan

  • Ve*

    Vegan Option

  • G

    Gluten-Free

  • G*

    Gluten-Free Option

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    Dairy-Free

  • D*

    Dairy-Free Option

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Rated 5.0 by 2 users.

Smashed Beans with Caponata

"Caponata is a mixture of all my favourite vegetables and so spreading it on some of my favourite (mashed) beans seemed an obvious pairing. This is delicious, rich and wholesome - serve it with some crusty sourdough and I promise it will make you very happy." 


This is an EXCLUSIVE recipe from Natalia's cookbook - Cooking Fast and Slow

Feeds: 3
Takes: 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 aubergine, cut into 1-2cm cubes

1 tbsp olive oil

1 courgette, cut into 1-2cm dice

1 shallot, diced

1 red pepper, deseeded and diced

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated

1 red chilli, diced

1 x400g tin chopped tomatoes

2 tbsp chopped green olives

2 tbsp capers

1 heaped tbsp raisins (trust me they work)

200ml vegetable stock

1 tbsp toasted pine nuts

Handful of fresh parsley leaves

Handful of fresh basil leaves

Sourdough or your bread of choice, to serve

For the Smashed Beans

1 jar Organic White Beans or 2 x 400g tins cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

2 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

1 shallot, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped

Juice of ½ lemon

Shop The Recipe

Organic White Beans
Organic White Beans
570g / Bold Pack (6) £22.00

Directions

1

Put a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the diced aubergine and a pinch of salt and fry without any oil, tossing regularly, until nicely charred. Remove from the pan and set aside.

2

Heat the olive oil in the same pan and sauté the courgette, shallot, celery and red pepper. Add the garlic and chilli and fry for another minute, then add the tomatoes, olives, capers, raisins and stock and let it bubble for a couple of minutes before reducing the heat. Leave to simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until thickened, then stir through the charred aubergine.

3

For the beans, heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a separate small frying pan over a medium heat and fry the shallot and garlic until just browning. Tip into a food processor along with the cannellini beans, the lemon juice and the remaining tablespoon of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Blitz until roughly smooth.

4

Pour the smashed beans on to a plate, spread out and then top with the caponata in the middle. Finish with the pine nuts, parsley, basil and an extra drizzle of olive oil. And, as always, mop up with some delicious sourdough.

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