A fresh spin on iconic Greek caramelised butter beans

Georgina Hayden offers a light and fresh take on a much-loved Greek classic.

Green gigantes from Greekish by Georgina Hayden. Photography by Laura Edwards.

Georgina Hayden

less than 2 min read

12:00PMJuly 10, 2024

The Weekend Australian Magazine

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This simple dish is a riff on the much-loved gigantes, an iconic Greek meal featuring giant butter beans. I love the tomatoey original, but this green version is as delicious. It feels light rather than rich and hearty, though it is substantial enough to be a standalone meal, perhaps with bread and pickles on the side. It is also much better when it is made in advance; I very much recommend that you double the recipe and eat it over a few days.

Try my other recipes: Greek-style lamb shanks and eggplant and feta pasta.

Green gigantes (Greek caramelised butter beans)

Ingredients

• 2 onions
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 leeks
• 2 zucchini
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• A few sprigs of thyme
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon sweet smoked
• paprika
• 2 × 400g tins of butter beans

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 210C (190C fan forced).
2. Peel and finely slice the onions and then the garlic. Trim and finely slice the leeks and zucchini — I like to slice my courgettes into half-moons.
3. Give the leeks a really good rinse.
4. Place a flameproof casserole dish on a medium-low heat and add the olive oil and all the sliced vegetables. Pick in the thyme leaves.
5. Season generously with salt and pepper, stir in the caster sugar and cook for 30 minutes, until softened and golden. Stir everything occasionally and if the mixture starts to catch on the bottom, add a little splash of water.
6. Stir in the sweet smoked paprika for the final 10 minutes of cooking.
7. When the vegetables are golden, stir in the beans, including the liquid from the tins, and top with an extra 200ml of water. Bring to the boil, then place the uncovered casserole dish in the oven for about an hour.
8. Check the beans a couple of times during cooking to make sure they aren’t drying out — if they are, add a splash more water. The end result should be golden and a little crisped on top with oozy beans underneath. I like to leave this to cool for a while before serving.

Serves 4