The Spiced Life

Musings & Recipes From My Kitchen

  • Home
  • About Me
  • FAQ
  • Dishes By Region
  • Archive and Index
  • Creative Cookie Exchange
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy
You are here: Home / beans / Greek Baked Beans With Honey and Dill

Greek Baked Beans With Honey and Dill

March 27, 2010 By Laura 8 Comments

Sharing is caring!

  • Facebook
  • Yummly
  • Twitter
  • Email


Back in February, in time for Lent, the New York Times had an excellent article on Greek vegetarian food by Martha Rose Shulman. Given my interest in Greek food and my interest in vegetarian food, especially legume-based vegetarian food, this article was a treasure trove of recipes. If anyone has a book on vegetarian Greek food they would like to recommend (traditional Greek vegetarian recipes, not traditional Greek recipes adapted for vegetarians), I would love to hear about it.


But anyway, about these recipes. So far I have started with Greek Baked Beans with Honey & Dill, an utterly delicious stew of beans and tomatoes. Traditionally made with gigandes, a very large dried lima bean, I made it with white beans as recommended (for a substitute) in the recipe (you’d think with all of the Rancho Gordo beans sitting my pantry I’d have some runners, but alas no). As far as I can tell, the beans are traditionally partially cooked on their own and then finished in the acidic tomatoes stew. Color me a skeptic, but I chose to cook the beans separately (I have had trouble with dried beans cooking in acid), and that is how I have written the instructions below. It may be that dried lima beans are different enough that cooking in the acid would not be a problem.

The next time I would add more veggies to this dish and eat it like a Greek chili. I think zucchini, eggplant and carrot would all work well. As it was, I did slice up 2 extra onions, quickly saute them, and add them to the pot, so you will see the extra onions. One other possibly significant change that I made was to use white wine in cooking the beans–I am not sure if the alcohol makes this dish ineligible for Lent. Just use water in that case.


Greek Baked Beans With Honey and Dill

Adapted from Martha Rose Shulman, NY Times

1 pound dried large lima beans or white beans, soaked overnight if necessary (do not soak gigandes if using)
2 cups white wine
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 large onions, preferably red, thinly sliced
8 cloves garlic, minced
1 green zucchini, diced (optional–I would use next time)
1 yellow summer squash, diced (optional–I would use next time)
diced eggplant or carrot, optional
1 28-ounce can whole tomatoes
1 bay leaf
3 T honey
2 T tomato paste
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup, loosely packed, chopped fresh dill (I did not have fresh so I added pinches of dried dill throughout the recipe, probably 1 1/2 T total)

Place the dried beans in a large heavy pot. Add the white wine, 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, 2 teaspoons of the minced garlic, and enough water to cover the beans by 2 inches. Bring to a boil and let boil for 5 minutes. Then reduce the heat to a bare simmer and cover to the pot. When the beans are tender, add salt to taste and simmer an additional 10 minutes. Set aside.

When you are 90 minutes away from dinner time, preheat the oven to 375 F. Heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a medium-large Dutch oven (I used a 5 qt oval) over medium heat, and add the onion with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until tender and lightly caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. Add the garlic and optional vegetables (and a pinch of dried dill if using dried) and cook an additional 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes with the bay leaf, vinegar and honey and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to maintain a rapid simmer and cook the tomato mixture for 10 minutes. Add another pinch of dried dill if using dried.

Drain the beans, reserving the pot liquor. Add the beans and tomato paste to the tomatoes, along with as much of the pot liquor as you desire (i.e., to desired soupiness). Add the remaining olive oil with freshly ground black pepper to taste and another pinch of dried dill if using. Taste for additional salt. Cover and place in the oven. Bake for 30 minutes, until the beans are tender and the mixture is thick. If using dried dill, add one last pinch before serving. If using fresh, add it at the end and let it sit for another 15 minutes. Taste again for salt–or additional vinegar or honey, but mine was perfect and needed neither.

Filed Under: beans, Greek Cuisine, tomatoes

« Salty Sweet Chocolate Chip Muffins
Think Outside The Box: Double Chocolate Chip Mint Teff Cookies »

Comments

  1. Elizabeth W says

    March 27, 2010 at 6:03 pm

    This sounds amazing. Let me know if you get any good book recs – I'd be interested in that too. LOVE Greek food.

    Reply
  2. Joanne says

    March 28, 2010 at 6:20 am

    I saw this article in the NYTimes as well and bookmarked it! I'm glad to hear it was a success for you…that bumps it up on my list.

    Reply
  3. grace says

    March 28, 2010 at 11:20 am

    mmm, laura, this looks truly delicious! i love beans, l love greek flavors, and although the honey and dill are unexpected, i'm sure they add complexity and an awesome taste. great recipe!

    Reply
  4. Tangled Noodle says

    March 28, 2010 at 3:54 pm

    I love to cook beans and my husband loves to eat them! 😎 What caught my eye here is the honey and dill, a combo that I'm not sure I've seen or tasted before. It looks and sounds wonderfully savory!

    Reply
  5. Renee Fontes says

    March 31, 2010 at 11:08 pm

    I love my Martha Rose Shulman books! The Party Fare Cookbook is good too.
    I have never heard of this dish, sounds great. Thank you.

    Reply
  6. pegasuslegend says

    April 3, 2010 at 6:50 am

    I love greek foods, and this is one my Aunt use to make, love beans any way they are fixed, and forgot about this version, yours look fabulous thanks for reminding me and I am diffinitely trying your recipe awsome~

    Reply
  7. Noelle says

    April 3, 2010 at 9:41 pm

    THAT sounds and looks yummy! Anything with beans. I would like to make this especially with thezucchini since my hubby does not like it. (I would it make ot for myself. 🙂

    Reply
  8. Claudia says

    April 3, 2010 at 10:12 pm

    Thi is gorgeous! In love all the vegetables, the beans, the stand-out flavor. Wishing I could grab the dish and put it on my table.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Hi! I’m Laura and I am a recovering history major who has re-channeled all of my passion for learning about the history of different countries to learning about their food culture. That doesn’t mean every dish on here is strictly authentic, but it does mean that even my adaptations are not undertaken lightly. My goal is to show you–by doing–that these dishes are possible in your kitchen. Including desserts because I have quite the sweet tooth! Read More…

Twitter Facebook Pinterest Instagram
Enter your email here and never miss a post!

Popular Posts

  • Restaurant Style Beef Vindaloo
  • Taralli Dolci di Pasqua (Southern Italian Easter Cookies): #CreativeCookieExchange
  • New Orleans Style Pain Perdu (French Toast)
  • Mexican Ramen Bowl
  • Grandma’s Beef and Noodles
  • Moroccan Inspired Couscous Bowl with Ground Beef, Veggies and Caramelized Onions (redux)
  • Middle Eastern Scrambled Eggs with Meat and Onion: Review of An Edible Mosaic
  • Saag Gosht (Beef in Fragrant Spinach Sauce)
  • Goan Influenced Goat Stew in the Slow Cooker
  • Bengali Mahi Mahi with Mustard Seeds

Copyright © 2008–2023 The Spiced Life