Baked Beans — the Ubiquitous Summer Side Dish

By Mary Frederiksen

Summer picnics need baked beans as a side dish. With todays wide selection of commercially prepared “canned” choices, it is hard to
justify making them on your own. This recipe MAY change your mind. It can be prepared and refrigerated and then “finished” in the oven
right before you serve them. Enjoy!

BAKED BEAN CASSEROLE WITH BACON

Ingredients:

Three tablespoons vegetable oil
Five cloves of garlic, minced
One green bell pepper, chopped
One medium onion, chopped
One tablespoon grated fresh ginger
Salt, to taste
Two cups bottled BBQ sauce
Two ten ounce cans baked beans
One nineteen ounce can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
One nineteen ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
Six slice (or more) of bacon

Method:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. Add the garlic, pepper, onion, ginger and salt and cook until softened.
Add the BBQ sauce and all the beans. Simmer over low heat for about 30 minutes.
Transfer beans to a casserole dish and arrange the bacon strips across the top. Refrigerate until ready to cook.
Then allow the casserole to warm to room temperature. Bake the beans at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or until the bacon
is crisp and the beans are bubbling. Remove from oven and let stand for about 15 minutes before serving.

Wine: Barbecue sauce? Bacon? A sharp, peppery red might be a good counterpoint to those flavors. How about a
Syrah-based wine from the northern Rhone Valley? Or a California Petite Sirah from a cooler region?

This was originally published in the HDWE newsletter in April, 2005.

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