Baked beans and vegetables

Serves one or two depending on how much vegetable you use.

Description

If you like baked beans you will like this. A tin of baked beans from a value range costs 35p or less in the UK. Basic vegetables are also cheap even if you buy them fresh.

Ingredients

This is what I used, other basic vegetables like onion, celery, courgettes and/or cauliflower certainly also work. You can use what's currently in season and cheap. Other frozen vegetables will undoubtedly also work as well as frozen cabbage did here.

• 1 tbsp. rape seed oil
• 1 medium sized potato or several small potaotes, chopped
• 1 medium sized carrot, chopped
• About 1/5 of a cabbage
• A little water
• 1 tin of value range baked beans
• A little value range grated cheddar cheese (If you don't happen to have cheese or if you want a vegan dish you can leave this out.)

No salt, the salt in the baked beans is enough

Directions

1. I heated the oil in a thick bottomed saucepan over medium heat.
2. I added potato and carrot, cooked, stirring from time to time.
3. Since the cabbage was frozen I turned the heat high before putting the cabbage in and turned the heat down when it had thawed. I carried on stirring from time to time.
4. I added water and let it boil stirring less often.
5. When the vegetables were cooked I added the baked beans.
6. Finally when the beans were heated through I added the cheese and stirred till the cheese was melted.
7. I put the dish into a bowl and ate it as a satisfying meal.

Result

It's easily as cheap as what A Girl Called Jack suggests in her books or on her website and uses fresh vegetables. This gives an inexensive meal with what a main meal needs and is quick if you are in a hurry. We all know baked beans in tomato sauce are very popular and this should work for the many people who like them.

Jack Monroe rinses the tomato sauce off baked beans and makes much fancier dishes with them. I'm sure Jackie's recipes also work. I guess rinsing the sauce off the beans would make this recipe into a reasonable side dish but you need something else as well to make a full satisfying meal.