My father loved canned pork and beans. So did I. Hunt’s, to be more precise. Everyone in Speedy’s family loves pork and beans too. But our daughters hate the stuff. I tried to entice them by turning the “pork and beans” into a real cooked dish by using dried beans and lots of pork and herbs. Delicious! But they’d just pick out the meat and leave the beans behind. Okay, so they don’t like beans. It came to a point that whenever I was alone in the house and I got a craving for the comfort of good old pork and beans, I’d indulge. One time, it was grilled kielbasa and beans.
Well, that was years ago. We don’t buy canned pork and beans anymore. Not because I like the stuff less but because I have discovered that making my own bean stew is so much better. If I’m cooking for the entire family and the stew includes meat that will need a couple of hours of simmering, I use dried beans. But if I need to cook for less — like when there’s just Speedy and me, and that’s the case now five days a week with both girls off to college — it isn’t very economical to consume so much fuel simmering beans for hours and hours when there are just two people to feed. My alternative? Canned beans, tomatoes and herbs. Lots of herbs.
It may look like sausages tossed in a can of pork and beans but it isn’t. This very tasty dish starts with finely sliced bacon. Here’s how.
Ingredients
- 150 g. of smoked belly bacon
1 onion, finely sliced
2 whole sausages (spicy Italian, Bratwurst, Hungarian… take your pick — remember though that the spicy ones really work best)
1 can of beans (I used cannellini but you can substitute some other variety)
1 can of whole peeled tomatoes
a few sprigs of fresh oregano
a few sprigs of fresh tarragon
salt
pepper
sugar
Instructions
- Heat a non-stick pan. Add the bacon and cook until it renders fat. You really need less than a teaspoonful of fat so if the bacon renders more than that, you can pour off the excess.Prick the sausages in several places with a fork. This will prevent them from bursting during cooking and allow some of their tasty juices to mix in with the sauce.
Add the sausages to the pan. Cook, turning once, until lightly browned. The bacon should be browning by this time too.
Add the onion, cook until a bit softened, about 30 seconds.
Pour in the whole peeled tomatoes, juice and all, crushing the tomatoes in your hand as you pour. Add all the contents of the can of beans.
Throw in the oregano and tarragon (reserve one sprig of tarragon for garnish). Stir. Season with salt and lots of freshly ground pepper. Sprinkle in a tablespoonful of sugar for balance.
Bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
Strip the tarragon leaves off the stalks. Sprinkle the whole leaves over the sausages and beans just before serving.
Cooking time (duration):25 minutes
Number of servings (yield): 2
Meal type: lunch / supper
Looks good! Is it very spicy?
Not very. You can add chili sauce if you prefer it spicy.
I remember when I was still staying on a dorm, Hunt’s Pork and Beans was my usual breakfast. However, when I got married and saw that my husband feeds that canned pork and beans to his dogs whenever we don’t have dog food available, and how the doggies indulge on them, I lost my gusto to the canned food. LOL.