I often have this for dinner, but when I was searching on here the other day I realised I have never put the recipe on this blog- shocking!
It is loosely based on a Rachel Allen recipe from her Bake book, called simple sausage and bean bake. This makes 2 big portions and it is easily adapted to make it veggie/ non veggie without loads of pans (so ideal for me and Andy).
Preheat the oven to 220C.
If using actual sausages, pierce them and cook them in the oven in a dish for 10 mins while you get the rest ready.
Chop a red onion and soften in a pan- use a little spray oil.
Once the onion is softened, add 2 chopped peppers (can add other veggies here- we sometimes add courgette as that goes quite well). Once they are softened, add a splash of balsamic vinegar.
Then add one tin of chopped tomatoes, one tin of drained cannelini beans, some dried basil and some garlic paste (although sometimes I leave out the garlic- you could also add chilli here).
Mine is on the left, and Andy (with sausages) on the right- an easy meal to please veggies and meat eaters- although he does eat it without meat sometimes too.
Place this in an ovenproof dish. If using sausages, pour it over the top. (As Andy has this with sausages, we do 2 separate dishes. I did used to add veggie sausages to mine, but they stopped making the ones I liked, so I just have it without now).
Bake for 35 mins. Optional- 5 mins from the end top with some mozzerella. Or top with a little grated cheddar once it come out of the oven.
Serve with some delicious bread, like my seedy bread.
This is so delicious! I think I might try adding sundried tomatoes to the mix to amp up that flavour. Something about the cannelini beans and the bread just go so well together, and I find it so filling and a really warming comforting dinner. It really only takes ten minutes to do the chopping and cooking, then just leave it to bake while you get on with other things (like reading blogs, how handy– or having a shower if you just got back from a run).
Also, on a totally off-topic rant, I came across this news article, about vegetarian labelled foods in restaurants containing meat. Have you ever been given something that turned out to be non-vegetarian? Recently I was given a ham and cheese roll on a BA flight. A long time ago in France I was given a cheese croissant which turned out to contain ham, and in the USA some vegetable soup which had big beef chunks in it. I do get annoyed with resturants that label items vegetarian when they contain parmesan too, but that is another issue for another day!