Another odd one this, since I have never shopped in a Waitrose, so I’ve no idea how these came into my cupboard, but they’ve clearly been there a good while, so although I’ve used tinned flageolet beans before, I still think they fit into my MoFo theme. And they’re such a pretty colour!

I soaked them and cooked them without any idea of what I was going to do with them, but then I remembered something I used to make with the tinned version many years ago which used cheese, and decided to recreate it.

I drained the cooked beans and put them in the bottom of a casserole dish – about 3 cups of cooked beans. Then I halved some nice tomatoes and put them on top of the beans, facing upwards. I crushed a few cloves of garlic and spread it on top of the tomatoes, then poured over a few tbsps of balsamic, another few of olive oil and a good glug of white wine. Finally, a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme and plenty of salt and pepper.

This all went into a hot oven for about 25 minutes until the tomatoes had collapsed and their juices all run into the beans to make a sloppy stew. I spread the rest of the cheese sauce over some baguette and put them under a hot grill until the cheese started to bubble, then served the baguette alongside the stew for dipping.

This was not the best meal I’ve made but it was a very simple and tasty stew that was good on a cold evening. Next time I think I will use one of the stronger cheeses from the book – I think the original recipe used camembert.

Have you used flageleolet beans?