Bbq Baked-Beans with Smashed Sweet Potatoes

I’ve cooked a few dishes from Save with Jamie, Jamie Oliver‘s great book full of interesting, tasty and cost saving recipes. This one has really taken my fancy, as I love sweet potato, and I really love beans, and it’s vegetarian too!

This is my version with a few small tweaks, but I have included the link to Jamie’s original recipe so that you cook the original if that’s what you’re after.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/bbq-baked-beans/#g3sjMR7LQpSdCpxs.97

I halved the quantities for my version, and this would still easily serve 4 people for a meal or 6 or so as a side. I omitted the carrots – I was out of them  – plus I thought the recipe would be fine sans carrot. Jamie suggests serving with cheesy ciabatta and yoghurt  which would be excellent, but I just wanted great tasting beans and potato on their own. I used sambal oelek (a chilli paste) instead of fresh chilli and chilli flakes. This is just personal choice, but in trying to be authentic in my post, I am writing exactly what I did in my version.

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1 red onion
1 clove of garlic
Olive oil
1/2 heaped teaspoon sweet smoked paprika
1/2 level teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 level teaspoon sambal oelek or chilli paste
3 medium sweet potatoes
1/2 (350ml) 700 ml jar of passata
1 x 400g tin of mixed beans – or 1 x 400g tin of  butter, kidney or cannellini beans
50ml BBQ sauce*
A few sprigs of fresh rosemary

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Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Peel the onions and garlic, then finely slice. Put into a large baking dish that can be used on the stove top. Place on a medium heat with a lug of oil, the paprika, cumin and chilli paste and cook for 20 minutes, or until softened, stirring regularly.

Meanwhile, scrub the sweet potatoes clean, then rub them with a little oil, salt and pepper, place in another baking dish and put aside.When the 20 minutes is up, stir the passata into the baking dish, add a splash of water and pour in the beans (juice and all).

Drizzle over the BBQ sauce, season lightly with salt and pepper and stir well. Pick and roughly chop the rosemary leaves, toss in a little oil and sprinkle over the top, then place in the oven for around 1 hour, or until bubbling and baked.  Add a splash or two of water to loosen, if needed.

You should place the sweet potatoes into the oven at the same time as you put the beans and passata etc into the oven. Cook the sweet potatoes for 1 hour too, or until soft and cooked through.

Remove the two dishes from the oven, tear up or squidge open the potatoes, and serve with the beansy mix. And I do think the dish would be enhanced by some yoghurt and crusty bread  – next time that’s a must for me.

* I used a bought BBQ sauce – I thought it made the dish too sweet. Try to get a smoky, savoury BBQ sauce or make your own. That’s next time for me too!