Georgina Hayden's recipe for gigantes with 'nduja
If a Greek and an Italian had a love affair, this would be the outcome: creamy, tomatoey butter beans pepped up with fried 'nduja for a bit of spice. Served with lots of parsley and crusty bread, this is a meal in itself, but the beans would also work brilliantly as part of a meze. It's the summer tomato dream.
Prep 10 min
Cook 40 min
Serves 4
3 tbsp olive oil2 onions, peeled and finely chopped3 carrots, peeled and sliced3 celery sticks, trimmed and slicedSea salt and black pepper
90g 'nduja2 tbsp tomato puree
2 400g tins butter beans (or a 700g jar), not drained
½ bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped200g cherry tomatoes on the vineCrusty bread, to serve
Put a large, shallow casserole or deep, large saucepan on a medium heat. Add the oil, onions, carrots and celery, season generously and fry, stirring often, for five minutes. Crumble in the 'nduja, turn up the heat and fry for another five minutes. Stir in the tomato puree followed by the butter beans and their liquid, then pour in 150ml cold water and stir in most of the chopped parsley. Nestle in the tomatoes still on their vines and leave to bubble away gently for about 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, turn on the grill to high. When everything in the pan is tender, and the liquid has reduced slightly and turned rich, transfer the pan to the oven and grill for three to five minutes, until a lovely crust forms on top.
Scatter over the remaining chopped parsley, and serve with chunks of crusty bread for mopping up all those juices.
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