Butter Beans with Baked Tomatoes, Garlic and Courgettes

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Nourish - Butter Beans with Baked Tomatoes, Garlic and Courgettes

This simple yet delicious salad can be enjoyed as a light meal or side dish. It’s packed with texture and flavour, loaded with nutrition and can be eaten warm or cold.

Butter beans, as their name suggests, have a rich creamy texture and taste which can be used in all manner of stews, curries, salads and pates. Cooked from scratch (or tinned) they are very satisfying as a main meal or side dish, plus they are packed with vitamins, minerals, complex carbohydrates, protein and digestion helping fibre.

Before we hit the main recipe, I’ll quickly show you how to cook dried butter beans, should you choose to cook them from scratch.

Print recipe

Ingredients

  • 40z/100g cooked butter beans (per person)
  • 3 or 4 large vine tomatoes or 8 small cherry tomatoes
  • 1 courgette
  • 5 or 6 garlic cloves
  • 1 tbsp. dried oregano
  • 1 ½ tbsp. organic vegetable/olive oil
  • 1 tsp. balsamic vinegar
  • A handful of wild rocket leaves
  • Fresh parsley and oregano to garnish
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Method

How to Cook Dried Butter Beans

  1. To cook dried butter beans, first, they need to be soaked overnight or for about 12 hours in cold water.
  2. When they’re ready, refresh the water and boil in a pan with a bay leaf and/or a strip of kombu which assists in the digestion of most dried beans.
  3. Cooking time can vary according to the quality or age of the beans but generally, they take at least an hour simmering on a medium to low heat.
  4. Test them towards the end of cooking and remove from the heat before they start to break up.

Method for Main Dish

  1. Begin by cooking your butter beans, fetching your previously cooked ones out of the fridge or grabbing a can out of the cupboard. Set aside.
  2. Preheat oven to 200c fan.
  3. Line a large, flat baking sheet with baking parchment or oil the base of the baking sheet.
  4. Cut the tomatoes (if large) and courgettes into even-sized pieces and arrange in a baking dish with the garlic cloves.
  5. Sprinkle with dried oregano and vegetable/olive oil before baking in a moderate oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Here’s an option to drizzle in some balsamic oil along with the oil, or add this to your dish after cooking.
  6. Combine the baked vegetables (including their sweet juices) with the butter beans and garnish liberally with herbs, rocket and freshly ground black pepper. Serve warm or cold

Undoubtedly, butter beans are very versatile. Simply add them to a salad, throw them in a stew or bulk out a soup.
More often than not, you can also swap out a different bean for butter beans if you desire.

If you’re looking for more recipes using butter beans, I recommend giving these a try:
– Millet & Butter Bean Burgers (Gluten-Free)
– Home-made Baked Beans

Dried butter beans in a bowl
Butter beans with baked tomatoes garlic and courgettes in a bowl

If you’re looking for some more information on why beans are so good for you, have a peek at my previous blog posts here:

Nutrition

tomatoes

Tomatoes are best known for their vitamin content which includes beta-carotene, vitamins C, E, some B vitamins and vitamin K. They also contain a handful of minerals including calcium and magnesium and are loaded with antioxidants.

Rocket greens are brilliant for digestion because the bitterness within their leaves stimulates enzyme production and therefore bile flow. Ultimately \, this helps and promotes digestion.

Butter beans are large, cream coloured beans that have a soft, floury texture when cooked. They are a good source of protein, iron, magnesium and rich in dietary fibre.

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Any questions? Drop into your local Nourish store to speak with our team and find our full range of foods, supplements and skincare. You can also explore our online store.