Gigantes Plaki
Baked butter beans in tomato — a taverna staple served warm or cold.
Gigantes plaki is large butter beans baked in a tomato and olive oil sauce until the sauce has reduced around them. It is a taverna standard, eaten warm or at room temperature as part of a spread. The beans are soaked overnight and part-boiled before they go in the oven.
Ingredients
- 400g giant butter beans
- 400g tinned tomatoes
- 1 onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- Dill and parsley
- Olive oil, salt
Method
- 1
Soak beans overnight, boil until just tender.
- 2
Fry onion and garlic, add tomatoes and herbs, simmer 15 minutes.
- 3
Mix with the beans and plenty of olive oil in a baking dish.
- 4
Bake at 180C for 45 minutes until the top caramelises.
- 5
Rest 15 minutes before eating.
Bean dishes are the cheapest thing on any taverna menu for a reason.
The Greek pulse dishes
Taverna Notes
The free Greek recipes are six of the thirteen in the guide. The rest of the book is the taverna itself: what may and may not appear on your bill, how fish by weight is priced, and how to order without being upsold.
Thirteen Greek recipes, and the language, law and labels of the Greek table.
- Thirteen Greek recipes with metric and US measures
- Regional food context and taverna guidance
- Menu and ordering language
- Restaurant pricing and consumer rules — including the prohibition on κουβέρ cover charges and the consent rules for bread and water
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