Γίγαντες Γιαχνί - Gigantes
Γιάννης Λάμπρου – Yannis Labrou

Instructions

This is an easy to make meal that keeps well in the refrigerator for a long time (two weeks) and reheats great in the microwave; it is low in cholesterol, low in carbs, high in protein, healthy, and very filling. Moreover, it is one of those recipes with a relatively high margin of error, i.e., it is hard to screw it up.

The most important element to this recipe is the beans. Good quality gigantes beans can be found at a Greek market. Some suggest that you can substitute with butter beans, but I have never tried it, nor would I ever try it.

Buy a bag of beans (standard size at a Greek market) and during the evening before cooking them, soak them in a large bowl of water. You want them to soak between 12 and 24 hours; I prefer to put them into a bowl before bed and cook them the evening after. From start to finish the gigantes takes about 1 ½ hour to prepare.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Drain the beans, rinse them, and put them in a large pot. Cover with water in an amount of approximately 2 to 3 times the volume of the beans. I prefer to use a pressure cooker; a pressure cooker costs about $60.00. It is unnecessary to throw money away on a high end model. Of course you may use a large pot instead. If you use a pressure cooker, the cooking time will be between 10 and 15 minutes (read instructions of the pressure cooker). If you use a pot, the cooking time will be between 1 hour and 1 hour 15 minutes. In either case, after cooking, the beans should be fully cooked, i.e., taste them and they should feel cooked.

While the beans are cooking, you prepare the sauce. Sauté one large onion and three cloves of garlic (whole or minced it does not matter; use more garlic if you like), in olive oil (never be thrifty with olive oil). The onion should be cut in round rings, not too thick, not too thin. Sauté until onions are translucent (in low to medium heat for 10 minutes) and then put a can of diced tomatoes in the skillet and let it cook for at least 15 minutes in low heat. I prefer to cover the skillet so that the liquid does not evaporate. In the meantime, chop a bunch of Italian parsley. The amount of parsley you will actually use is a matter of taste, but need not worry about using too much. Towards the end of the cooking of the sauce, sprinkle half of the chopped parsley and let it cook for a few more minutes. You can add some thyme if you want.

When the beans are ready, drain them and put them back in the empty pot (away from the heat) and sprinkle olive oil (needless to say this means Greek extra virgin olive oil). Salt and pepper the beans.

Now its time to mix everything together and put the meal in the oven. Using a medium size pyrex (13” x 9” x 2”). Mix the sauce and the beans in the pyrex. Sprinkle more parsley over the beans (optional). Cover with aluminum foil and put it in the oven in the middle rack. After 25 minutes, lower heat to 375 degrees F and remove the aluminum foil. Cook for another 20 minutes. Take out of the oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Serve. You may want to sprinkle more parsley when serving. This recipe makes 8 well sized portions. Serve with good bread, a strong read wine and feta cheese. It matches great with χωρι¬τικο λουκ¬νικο. Whenever you want to reheat in the microwave, sprinkle a bit of water before placing in the microwave.