Homemade baked black beans with feta & dukka

Hello :) As you can see from my previous post, I love recreating fabulous dishes I have at cafes. They always come up with awesome combinations of foods I think "wow, I want to make this!". A little while ago I went to Single Origin cafe in Surry Hills (so hip, you must go!), and had their persian spiced beans with feta, dukka & flat bread, which just wonderful. Here's a visual...

Naturally I wanted to make it! Now I'm all for using up grains & legumes that we already have instead of purchasing packets and then thinking "what am I going to make with these?", so luckily I'd recently bought black beans recently for this cookie recipe & I remembered my friend had sent me a recipe for baked beans, which she found on the Masterchef website. 

Recipe: George's Homemade Baked Beans (adapted from George Calombaris) Serves 4. 

Ingredients-

2 cups (400g) large dried beans (mixture of large white lima beans and black beans)

Extra virgin olive oil

1 brown onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, thinly sliced

1 carrot, peeled, diced

1 stick celery, strings removed, diced,

2 bunches thyme, secured together with kitchen string

2 dried bay leaves

2 cups chicken stock

400g can diced tomatoes

3-4 slices crusty bread

1 garlic clove, extra, halved

100g feta cheese

1/4 cup mint leaves

1/4 cup flat leaf parsley leaves

Method-

1. Place beans in a large ceramic bowl, cover with cold water and set aside for 12-24 hours to soak. Drain well, rinse and drain again

2. Cover the base of large frying pan with extra virgin olive oil and heat over high heat, add beans, onion, garlic, carrot, celery, thyme & bay leaves, stir to coat. Pour over chicken stock and add the tomatoes. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 2 hours or until beans are tender. 

3. Drizzle both sides bread with olive oil and char-grill until toasted. Remove hot toasted bread to a board and rub with cut side of the garlic. 

4. Taste the beans, adjust the seasoning as required. Remove the thyme and bay leaves. Crumble over the feta, scatter over the mint leaves and parsley. Serve with bread. 

Such a comforting dinner :) I just loved it- the soft beans, creamy feta, hint of thyme, sprinkle of dukka & super fresh herbs picked from our garden...good stuff instead! 

And I think this will be my breakfast tomorrow, topped with a poached egg and wilted spinach. Scrumptious! 

Hannah x