As they were so fresh, they didn't take long to cook after being soaked for a day - around half an hour rather than the hours that commercial beans can take.
I simmered the beans, then made a sauce - the last of our tomatoes, some of the lovely carrots that we have been so successful with this year, onions, garlic.
These were roughly chopped, and fried in a teaspoon of oil, along with an elderly pack of pancetta cubes which I found in the back of the fridge.
I added water, and lots of flavourings - english musard, a good squeeze of ketchup, worcester sauce and tabasco, before blending and sieving, and then thickening the sauce with a spoonful of cornflour.
Then the beans were added into this and all simmered for a while so the beans absorbed the flavours. At this stage I realised I'd been a bit stingy with the bean quantities, so I added a small tin of butter beans to pad it all out a bit.
I baked a couple of large potatoes after spraying them with olive oil spray, and sprinkling with salt (I remain to be convinced that a drizzle of olive oil isn't just as healthy)
The beans were served over the jacket potatoes, with some cheese and worcester sauce sprinkled over the top.
I used this lower fat cheese - things have moved on a lot with low fat cheese, and it actually tastes fine, but it definitely doesn't melt in the same way as proper cheese.
As we still have a huge jar of borlotti beans from the allotment I will definitely do this one again - it's a simple and healthy meal, but it satisfies my desire to cook something rather than just open a can after work
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