Yigante (Giant) Beans
A long, long, long time ago a few friends and I vacationed in Greece. In fact, it was so long ago that this picture was taken with film and I had hair. Do you remember film boys and girls? I don’t remember having hair!
It was on this trip that I picked up a love for Greek flavors and I still have a soft spot for simple Greek salads. Feta all the way baby.
One fine evening in Corfu we found a restaurant off the beaten path and away from all the pesky tourists. So, we hunkered down in this rustic space and filled ourselves up on some local down home food, wine and ouzo all night. I think the bill wound up being something insanely cheap, like 15 bucks a person (and we probably got ripped off!) No one was in a condition to drive so we stumbled home and I can’t recall much else from that night, except for the beans. Oh, the beans. They still make me drool on command. The best way for me to describe it is a lima bean casserole with tomato sauce and feta.
It only took me 15 years to try and make this dish. I had just purchased a pressure cooker, and this seemed like a good way to take it for a spin.
So, as my good friend Val reminded me — how did it taste? Pretty damn good, but I think the one in Greece was better. Maybe if I add a little fresh dill or ouzo? Or maybe I just need to add more Corfu!
Ingredients:
Makes a large side dish, enough to feed 4-6 people. I just ate it alone and there was a mess left over.
- 1 lb. dried lima beans (I don’t know if Greek yigantes are the same as our limas, but it was the best I could do)
- 4 tbl. olive oil
- 1 tbl. dried oregano (I actually used Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset blend by accident, but it’s mostly oregano. If you have it, use it.)
- A few sprigs + 1 tbl. fresh thyme
- 1 lemon
- small block of feta, crumbled. I would guess about a cup, but don’t let me stop you from adding more.
- 1 can of tomatoes, diced and drained
- 1 large onion
- 2 tbl. honey
- 3 tbl. tomato paste
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 garlic cloves
- salt and pepper
Directions
- Soak dried beans in water overnight
- Rinse beans and place into pressure cooker with fresh water, garlic, a few thyme sprigs and a little olive oil. Cook under pressure for 5 minutes. Read your pressure cooker directions for more details. If you don’t have a pressure cooker, no worries, just simmer until the beans are nice and tender (probably 1/2 hour or 45 minutes)
- Preheat oven to 325
- Drain the beans reserving 1 cup of bean juice. Pull out any stray bean skins floating around.
- Dice onion and simmer in olive oil until translucent
- Mix reserved water, honey, tomato paste, tomatoes, herbs and spices
- Place beans, onions and liquid into covered casserole dish
- Mix in feta, and about a tablespoon of kosher salt (taste it and adjust, I didn’t really measure the salt and it really depends on how salty your feta is).
- Bake for an hour covered, add 1/4 lemon juice and bake for an additional 1/2 hour uncovered
- Serve with a lemon wedge, red wine and chase the whole meal with some ouzo. Opa!
“Hey, what am I going to do with all my old Drachma?”
12 Comments
What a great recipe! love your blog man! came across it on foodgawker, and you have some awesome posts here!
Thanks Sarah, glad I finally made foodgawker, and you found me. Hope to see you around! PS, I just checked you blog, and it looks like fun. I’ll have to check in more detail when I get home from work…
Wonderful recipe and great story. Only 15 years, eh? AND HOW DID IT TASTE? How could you possibly leave that part out! I saw these beens in Boston in a barrell in the North End on my foodie tour. There is nowhere to get them here…. yet. I will let my Italian Center Store friend know, and she’ll get them in for me. If you are into pressure cooking now, there is a local gal, Kelly, who is a vegetarian who does a ton of pressure cooking on her site. It is called Cookbook Cooks. Her food always sound like food I would love to eat. Probably not you, so much, as you are truly a carnivore, like Vanja. But, it will give you some great ideas. (Not that you lack in that department.)
And, why is it that a man can lose his hair and look as good, or better than when he had it? And, women? It is just not the same. Why is that?
Now, how did I forget to tell you how it tasted? Consider it done! I do think it tasted better in Greece at least somewhat due to the Greek air…
Yes, more Corfu may be the secret ingredient, but this recipe sounds good enough to make me want to try lima beans again 🙂 Congrats on having your photo accepted by Foodgawker too!!!
eggy
Thanks Eggy! It’s only taken me about 9 months, several photo classes, a ton of books and never mind my revolving Amazon account — and finally, they accepted one. In my opinion, that pic isn’t even all that great, but I’ll takes what I can gets 🙂 You should give limas another chance, who knows maybe the feta will help charm you 🙂
–Andy
This bean dish rocks! I don’t even like lima beans but, I am ready to give them a second chance. Delicious!
i had a recipe that was similar to this at a greek restaurant here in dallas. I am so glad to find a recipe for it! YUM!
cca (or can I call you Claire?) Let me know how it comes out, or if you have any modifications to improve it. I am still trying to perfect it…
This looks great! Can’t wait to try it…hope you don’t mind if I repost on my blog!
Leigh, thanks! I don’t mind if you repost the recipe, after all they all come from somewhere. If you do repost it as is, or use my picture I would want you to attribute it to here and link back. Thanks and let me know how it comes out.
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