Classic Greek Gigantes: Greek Beans in a Tomato Sauce

Get the exact recipe here: https://www.dimitrasdishes.com/gigantes-baked-giant-bean-casserole/

Ingredients
1 pound giant butter or lima beans, soaked in water overnight
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped or grated
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 (28 ounce can) tomatoes pureed in blender
1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley for garnish
about 1 cup or more of crumbled feta cheese
Instructions
Soak the beans in a large bowl filled with cold water. Drain the water in the morning.
Place beans in a large pot covered with cold salted water and bring to a boil. Cook the beans about 40 minutes or until tender but not mushy. They will continue cooking in the oven. Strain the beans and place them in a 9x13inch baking dish. Drizzle some olive oil on top and season with salt.
Preheat the oven to 400 °F, 200 °C.
Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a saucepan. Add onions and cook over medium-low heat until soft and golden. About 10-15 minutes. Add garlic and warm through until fragrant. Add tomato puree, spices and sugar.
Bring to a boil and cook the sauce for 3-5 minutes. Pour the sauce over the beans and mix well. Bake uncovered for about 45 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and top with crumbled feta cheese. Tuck the feta into the sauce and return to the oven to bake for 10 more minutes.
If the sauce has completely been absorbed into the beans add some hot water (about a cup) and mix together.
Top with fresh parsley and serve with olives and salad.
Kali Orexi!
Music Used:
Greek Sun Time (With Intro)
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By: tonyanthony

Its All Greek
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By: LowNotes

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Hi everyone Yas to another episode of demitra dishes today I’m GNA be teaching you how to make yand black this is a vegan recipe uh even though I do add some fet that cheese at the end which you can leave out if you’re fasting for length or something like that they’re so

Good they’re buttery large lima beans that are really common in Greece if you can’t find them you can use regular lima beans for this or any white beans that you have on hand but these beans in particular are really good because they’re just rich and nutritious and

Just melt in your mouth buttery smooth whenever you make them they’re so good they’re going to be cooked in a light tomato sauce everything comes together in just a few easy steps and then the oven does all of the work I think you guys are going to love these let’s get

Started okay so we’re going to begin with the yandes so these are actual yandes beans that I bought online you can find them in a specialty Greek market if you don’t have one nearby then you can get them online or you can go with the giant lima beans that are

Usually sold in the dry food section of your Supermarket where they have the beans and rice and things like that it’s important to soak them overnight so put them in a large bowl cover them with some water make sure that they’re completely covered with some extra water

On top because they do absorb lots of water and just set them on the counter overnight they’re going to plump up and get nice and big and then the next day or 10 hours later whenever you’re making them 10 to 12 hours later you can drain

That water out and transfer them to a big pot with lots of water I like to Salt my beans some people don’t salt them they say that it makes them tough I really don’t have that problem I’ve been salting them for a long time bring the

Pot to a boil and then reduce the heat to like a medium and let them boil for 35 to 40 minutes or until they’re fork tender don’t overboil them you don’t want them to start mushing up on you in the meantime while the beans are cooking

We’re going to prepare the sauce and the sauce is a very simple red sauce I have one large onion that I’ve peeled I’m just going to finally chop that and add it to a saucepan with at least a/4 of a cup of olive oil these vegetarian

Recipes tend to have lots of olive oil but you put as much as you like in there I’m also going to add a little pinch of salt and put this on the stove top over medium heat and it’s going to cook until the onions are nice and soft and golden

That can take up to 10 minutes next I’ll add four grated garlic cloves I like to grate my garlic way ahead of time and keep it frozen I just break a piece off and just throw it in the pot it’s just going to warm through until it’s nice

And fragrant since it’s so finely grated you don’t want to overcook it otherwise it can get a little bit bitter once that’s done I’m just going to add two cans these are 15 oz cans you could do one large 28 o can of tomatoes I’ve

Puree them so that way the sauce is nice and smooth I’ll also rinse the cans out with a little bit of water and when I’m adding the tomato sauce I make sure that the heat is off otherwise it can start bubbling and it’ll burn you next I’ll

Add 2 tpoon of granulated sugar this really helps balance that acidity that the tomatoes tend to have you can do honey instead or if you don’t want that sweetness leave it out all together we’re going to season it with a little bit of salt freshly cracked black pepper

I like to throw in some crushed red pepper flakes for a little bit of heat a teaspoon of oregano I don’t add too much of oregano because when oregano Cooks it tends to get a little bit bitter so you could either leave the oregano out of

The sauce or put a little bit in right now and then a little bit when the beans are mixed in all together so we’re just going to bring this sauce to a boil once it boils mix everything up and take it off of the Heat and then we’re going to

Put everything all together as soon as the beans are done cooking once the beans are done cooking go ahead and drain them into a colander and as you can see they’re nice and tender but they’re not mushing next we’re going to transfer the beans to a 9 by 13in baking

Pan that I have right here I’ll add the sauce on top I’m going to make sure I get all of that sauce out now I’m going to season a little bit more give everything a tast taste and if it needs some more salt and pepper you could add

It at this point I’ll also add another teaspoon of dried oregano mix everything up and it’s ready for the oven the oven should be preheated to 400° F these are going to bake on the center rack uncovered for about 40 or 45 minutes and you can take them out and put some feta

Cheese in there I like to crumble it here and there and kind of tuck it into the sauce and in between the beans and then I just return it to the oven and let it cook for another about 10 or 15 minutes I love the caramelization that

The beans and the sauce get around the edges and if your oven it Cooks at a little bit of a lower temperature and you want more color on top you can turn the broiler on for the last 5 minutes or so just keep a close eye on it once it

Comes out of the oven the sauce should have thickened it’s going to look beautiful and just a rich red on top with some caramelization like I said let it sit for a little bit before you serve it if the sauce does get a little bit

Too thick and you want a little bit bit more sauce in there you can add some hot water to it that’s a little trick that I do some people like to add some ice cubes in there it helps it cool down a little bit and also creates a little bit

Of a natural sauce either way is fine but if you’re serving it the next day of course the sauce will have probably dried up so you can definitely warm it on the stove top with a little bit more hot water and then cook it down until it

Absorbs the water and there’s a nice thick sauce at the end time for the taste test m I’m not a huge Bean fan but this is one of my favorite dishes like of all time it’s up there in the top 10 foods just because of the sweetness that the sauce

Has these large beans are just buttery and so smooth and so good you can serve this as is with some feta cheese if you don’t care about the meat you can add some sausages to it or or a side of Meatballs my mom always made meatballs

To serve with this this recipe is so delicious serve it with some olives feta and a nice green salad and some toasted bread to soak up that sauce head on over to the website to print the recipe out and I’ll be back here soon with another delicious recipe yes s