Foxtel, no doubt facing somewhat stiffer competition and in a bid to lessen customer leakage, has loosened things up a bit.

So what for many years has been, for us, a basic + sport package is now a basic + sport + just-about-everything-else-except-movies.

Truth to tell we’re not that impressed – if anything, the increase of futile channel surfing may actually push us closer to pulling the plug.

And the food line-up seems particularly awful at the moment.

But I did see one interesting bit at the weekend.

It was a show purportedly about British pub food but I wasn’t paying too much attention – book in hand, mute on, music playing.

And it stayed that way even when the dude started making baked beans.

I could see what he was up to, though, and thought: “Hey, I can do that!”

I’ve attempted baked beans in the past with no great success – the outcomes have been quite edible but have been more like a bean stew than your actual baked beans.

This one worked!

I made some changes – I used worcestershire sauce instead of red wine vinegar and I threw in a finely grated carrot.

When Bennie saw these in the pot, he said: “That looks weird!”

When he was eating them, he said: “Mmmm … these are good!”

A few days later, he was specifically requesting the frozen leftovers for dinner.

So from here on, in our home they’ll be referred to as “Bennie’s Beans”!

 

INGREDIENTS

2 cups dried cannellini beans (tinned beans are a shabby substitute).

3 rashers bacon

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 finely grated carrot

1 tablespoon worecestershire sauce

salt

pepper

 

METHOD

1. Soak beans overnight and cook next day in plenty of water until done; drain and set aside.

2. Finely chop bacon and fry off in plenty of oil.

3. Lower heat and throw in finely copped onion and finely chopped or grated garlic; cook until tender.

4. Add tomatoes, 1 can of water, tomato paste, worecestershire sauce, finely grated carrot, salt, pepper.

5. Stir until all the elements are blended in; cook on low heat for about half an hour.

6. Add beans and cook on low heat for another hour.

7. Serve on toasted good-quality sourdough.

8. Eat.