Recipe | Posh Beans on Toast

While there’s nothing wrong with a reliable tin of beans, ring the changes with a homemade version. These smoky cannellini beans on garlic toast are bursting with flavour, but still quick enough for lunch.

Serves 2

1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
½ tsp mixed spice
½ tsp oregano
Pinch of chilli flakes
200ml passata
½ tsp brown sugar
400g tin cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
A handful flat-leaf parsley, chopped
4 slices sourdough bread
1 garlic clove, peeled and cut in half

1 Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over a medium heat, then add the onion and cook gently until it’s softened, but hasn’t taken on any colour.

2 Add the paprika, mixed spice, oregano and chilli flakes to the onion and stir for a further 1 min before adding the passata and brown sugar.

3 Simmer for around 5 mins, or until the passata begins to brown a little, then stir in the cannellini beans and cook for another 5 mins until the beans are heated through. Remove from the heat and stir in the parsley.

4 Meanwhile, toast the bread and rub each slice with the cut side of the garlic. Top with the beans and serve.

This recipe is one of the ideas from our feature, ‘Use Your Loaf’, in our March issue, which includes lots of ideas for lunches on toast, including Sourdough Rarebit, Smashed Chickpeas with Harissa Yoghurt, Brioche French Toast, and Black Cherry Compote and Ricotta. The recipes are by Lottie Storey and the photography by Kym Grimshaw.

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Recipe | Tomato Focaccia

Almost as much joy to bake as it is to eat. Use cherry tomatoes to get juicy little planets of blistered and sweet tomatoes in the surface of the bread, some sinking into the doughy dimples, and some not.

Makes 1 focaccia

330ml lukewarm water
7g fast-action dried yeast
500g strong white bread flour
6 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing
1 tsp salt
200g cherry tomatoes, some halved, some not
8 sage leaves or 3 rosemary sprigs, torn
Generous ½ tsp flaky sea salt

1 Stir together the water and yeast and leave it to sit for 5-10 mins, or until it becomes foamy.

2 When it’s ready, tip the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the yeast mixture, mixing vigorously, either by hand or using the dough hook on a kitchen mixer for a minute or so, then add 2 tbsp of the olive oil and the salt. Continue mixing for a further 10 mins, or until the dough becomes less sticky, smoother and more cohesive.

3 Brush a bowl with olive oil and tip in the dough. Cover and leave the dough to rise in a warm place for about 1-1½ hrs, until it has nearly doubled in size.

4 Once proved, brush a deep-sided baking pan with a little olive oil, then tip the risen dough into the pan. Pull the dough towards the edges of the pan and use your fingertips to dimple it in places, keeping some spots still nicely aerated. Add about 1 tbsp more of olive oil over the surface of the dough, cover and leave to prove once more for about another 20 mins.

5 Preheat the oven to 230C/Fan 210C/Gas 8. Add the cherry tomatoes to the dough, squeezing some deep into pockets and leaving others protruding out a little more. Do the same with the sage leaves or torn rosemary sprigs, then sprinkle over the flaky sea salt.

6 Bake the dough in the very hot oven for about 25 mins, or until the crust is golden brown and puffed around edges.

7 Once baked, remove the focaccia from the oven and immediately drench it with the remaining olive oil, then allow it to cool for at least 10-15 mins before slicing.The loaf should sound hollow when it is tapped on the underside.

Taken from Tomato by Claire Thomson (Quadrille) Photography: Sam Folan

Find more tomato recipes from the book above in our September issue, including Tomato Carpaccio with Tapenade, Roasted Tomato Falafels with Tomato Yogurt and a Borscht.

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Food | Reinventing the Toastie

Making an event of sandwiches since the 1920s, the toastie maker is a lunch game-changer. Here’s how to make more of yours

There’s nothing wrong with a cheese sarnie. In fact, there’s plenty that’s right about it, but a crispy, golden, oozing cheese toastie? Now that’s a lunch to look forward to. But if you’ve never considered much more as a toastie filling than cheese (or cheese and ham if you’re feeling adventurous) you’re definitely missing out. Here are a few toastie fillings we have tried and loved. Drag out your toastie maker from the back of the cupboard, or simply fry on both sides in a frying pan. However you toast your toasties, there’s a whole new world of hot lunches waiting for you…

Beans in Toast

Yep. IN toast. An inside out twist on beans on toast, simply fill your slices of bread with beans and perhaps a dash of Worcestershire sauce. Comfort on a plate. 

Chilli and cheese

An excellent use for a small amount of leftover chilli con carne, this works equally well with veggie chilli, too. Make it vegan by simply leaving out the cheese. Excellent dipped in sour cream.

Butternut squash, bacon and gorgonzola

Roast the butternut squash and fry the bacon then assemble and sprinkle gorgonzola on top before toasting. 

Pizza toastie

This works like a folded pizza, with the bread working as a dough ‘case’ you can hold easily. Just spread tomato sauce or passata on the bread slices, top one with whatever toppings you like on a pizza, close and toast. 

Festive toastie

Stilton and cranberry sauce is simple but delicious. If you like, you can add turkey and stuffing, sliced sprouts, and any other Christmas fare you like.

Tapas toastie

A bit of Spanish sunshine in sarnie form. Manchego, chorizo slices and, if you like, a couple of anchovies, one or two roasted red peppers from a jar and perhaps an olive or two on the side. 

Mushroom and gruyere

Lots of sliced mushrooms, fried in a little garlic and butter, go beautifully with gruyere cheese. 

Ploughman’s toastie

Cheese paired with thinly sliced apple or pear. Such a good combo, we’re amazed it doesn’t happen more. Works well with a good strong cheddar and a bit of chutney on the side. 

Spag Bol toastie

Yes, we are double carbing. Nothing wrong with that. Another excellent way to see off leftovers too. Snip the cooked spaghetti up a bit, top with some of the Bolognese sauce and a few cubes of mozzarella. If you want to be posh, sprinkle some grated parmesan on the outside of the buttered bread once it’s toasting. 

Don’t forget dessert

Nutella, sliced banana and mini marshmallows. Utterly childish. Utterly delicious.

The waffle toastie with creamed mushrooms pictured above is from Happy Vegan Comfort Food by Karoline Jönsson (Pavilion Books). Photography: Karoline Jönsson. It’s just one of the recipes in our feature, Comfort Lunches, which you can find in our January issue, on sale now.

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The perfect summer lunch: Gazpacho

Honour the tomato with this cold Spanish soup. Top with croutons and Serrano ham for a perfect lunch.

Serves 6 6 large tomatoes 2 red peppers, deseeded and chopped 2 yellow peppers, deseeded and chopped 1 small cucumber, peeled and chopped 3 spring onions, chopped 1 large garlic clove 1 tbsp sherry vinegar, or a splash to suit your taste A splash garlic olive oil 1 tbsp good olive oil 1 tsp sugar 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1. Put the tomatoes into a bowl of boiling water with small crosses cut into them to help the skins to peel off. Remove the skins, wait until the tomatoes are cool and chop finely. 2. Chop everything up, removing the green part of the spring onion and deseeding the cucumber. If you have a blender or food processor, add all of the vegetables and blitz. Otherwise just carry on chopping until a paste-like consistency is reached. 3. Add the oils, sugar, sherry and paprika and taste. Add additional seasoning if it needs it. Serve toppings in separate bowls so people can help themselves.