Authentic Greek baked broad beans aka Gigantes Plaki

Hi All, thrilled to post today my authentic Greek recipe for Gigantes Plaki (or just, Gigantes). It is a delicious recipe of broad beans baked in a tomato sauce.

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I visited the Prespes Lakes in northern mainland Greece last month, and it inspired me to make gigantes shortly after my return home. The Prespes Lakes are famous for the beans produce, especially the broad beans, which in Greece we call ‘gigantes’ – a rather cute name that means ‘giants’ in Greek!

During a taverna meal on the shore of the Big Prespa Lake, I tasted the local gigantes for the first time with chopped celery and I loved them. So, armed with a large bag of Prespes beans that I bought during my visit I made the meal at home and was thrilled that it tasted just as amazing as I recalled.

Without further ado, here is the recipe!

INGREDIENTS (serves 2-3)

250 gr broad beans, soaked in water overnight

1 large red onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and sliced thickly

1 sweet red pepper, chopped (the ‘Florina’ variety is used in Greece)

1 thick stalk of celery (stalk peeled and chopped, some leaves chopped)

1 tablespoon of tomato paste mixed with some water (or about 150-200 ml of tomato puree)

5 tomatilloes, chopped (optional)

A generous amount of extra virgin olive oil (what you normally use in a tomato sauce and some more – roughly, about 40ml total)

sprinkle of oregano, salt, pepper

Lemon juice (optional)

PREPARATION

Wash and boil the beans in water for 1 hour. NO SALT.

Taste a bean after 1 hour and if still somewhat hard, you can leave them in for another 5-10 minutes. They must not be too hard but certainly not mushy. When done, strain using a colander. You may want to remove any skin debris. Set aside.

While the beans boil, prepare the sauce to save time:

Fry onion and garlic in olive oil in medium heat. Stir for a minute or so until onion is transparent.

Add carrots, peppers and celery and fry for a few seconds.

Add tomato paste or puree, and the tomatilloes if using. Give it a good stir and fry for about 1 minute.

Add salt, pepper, oregano and enough hot water from the kettle so everything floats in the water comfortably (about 1 cup of hot water or more).

Cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

When done, put the beans inside and mix well.

Transfer the mixture into a medium-size baking dish. Pour in 1/2 cup of hot water or even more if the mixture is too dry. This is how my meal looked when I put it in the oven:

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees C. Put the dish in the lowest tray and cook with the lower element and air, otherwise use both upper and lower element.

Cook for about 45 minutes or so. Every 15 minutes, take out the dish and mix well so that the beans cook evenly. They shouldn’t stay dry while cooking.

COOL TIP: Because I love the tang of lemon in tomato sauces (and because lemon aids digestion while beans can be heavy on the stomach), I added some lemon juice at the end in the pan and gave it a gentle stir. You may want to try that at least once. For me, it improves the taste further!

You can accompany gigantes with feta cheese, olive and fresh chiabatta bread. I also recommend a salad, fries, an omelette or cheese pastries, or even some fish. Anyway you choose to accompany them you’re in for a treat. ENJOY!

Now, if you make gigantes and love them, you may want to also try these two wonderful variations:

Variation number 1: Omit celery, pepper and oregano and use leek and dill.

Variation number 2: Omit celery and carot and use sweet paprika, cumin and spearmint.

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