Gigantes Plaki: A Greek bean dish

This is my first ever entry in IMBB (Is My Blog Burning).  I'm excited to be joining the fabulous food blogging community. 

We encountered this delicious bean dish in tavernas throughout Greece, usually served at room temperature as an appetizer. One advantage of this dish is it can be cooked 1 or 2 days in advance.  It improves with age. For more about our 3 weeks in Greece last spring see Exploring greek food. 

Gigantes Plaki

1 c dry gigantes or large lima beans
3 bay leaves (Greek if possible)
2 T EVOO
1 onion, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 15 oz can chopped tomatoes, fire roasted preferred
2 T rigani (dried oregano, Greek if possible )
1 bay leaf
1/2 c red wine
1 T honey
S & P to taste
juice of 1 lemon
1 T red wine vinegar
1/4 c chopped parsley
1 T chopped Parsley
1 T chopped Dill

Soak beans in lots of water to cover over night or boil beans in lots of water for one minue and allow to sit covered for 1 hour. (These beans soak up lots of water).  Drain beans.  Return to pot and cover with lots of water, bring to boil, reduce to simmer, add 3 bay leaves, cover and simmer.  Check every 15 minutes.  Beans are done when they are just soft through-out.  They will cook a bit more later. (Mine took 30 minutes to get done).  Drain beans (save water) and remove bay leaves.  In same pot heat olive oil.  Saute onions til soft.  Add garlic and saute for a few minutes.  Add tomatoes plus their juice.  Add rigani, bay, wine, honey and S & P.  Allow to simmer for 15 minues or until well amalgamated.  Add beans to sauce.  Add enough reserved bean water to keep beans juicy but not soupy.  Barely simmer for about 30 minutes to allow flavors to blend, or if you prefer, bake beans at 325.  Beans should be meltingly tender but not quite falling apart.   Add lemon juice, vinegar and 1/4 c parsley.  Remove from heat.  Serve hot or at room temp.  Garnish with chopped parsley and dill.  Makes 4-6 side dish 8-10 appetizer servings.

Comments

[Cathy]

Maureen - this sounds delicious! I can't wait to spend more time reading about your travels in Greece - the pictures are great! Thanks so much for participating in IMBB 11!

[Jennifer]

Maureen - I'm so glad you made it out to participate in IMBB this time around! And your dish looks and sounds absolutely scrumptious! What could possibly be wrong with such a delicious appetizer that in addition to tasting so great is easy to prepare and gets better if left to sit? NOTHING!

Thanks!

[James]

This dish cannot take one whole lemon - completely obliterates it

[Tina Johnson]

This looks a great recipe but you can do it much more simply (the Greeks themselves hate to cook for any longer than necessary!). Try soaking and cooking the beans - I use butter beans. Throw them into a pan with tinned tomatoes to cover, chopped onion, chopped garlic, generous amount of dried oregano and a very generous slosh of olive oil. Cook with lid on for an hour or more. Add salt and pepper. Serve with chopped parsley, fresh bread and, if you have it, some cubes of feta.

[Volker from Germany]

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Kind regards

[Hypnotherapy London]

Thank you for sharing this. Can't wait to make it and bring back wonderful memories

[bMypeGency]

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[Ana BW]

thanks so much for sharing -- looks yummy!