Slow cooker recipe corner: North Carolina style baked beans

Picture taken from theodysseyonline.com

Welcome back to the deep South of America!  Actually, is North Carolina in the South?  I'm not entirely sure.  Anyway, as promised, here is the fabulous baked bean recipe, again taken from Waitrose "Kitchen" magazine, which pairs so well with the pulled pork in my last post.

I must admit that those beans that didn't accompany the pork ended up on toast with a sprinkle of cheese and very delicious they were too.

Now we cheated a little here by using canned beans.  One can of plain and one can of...well, Heinz.  I'm not sorry though.  We're pimping those beans up with plenty of other ingredients, but I think the back drop of the (almost) too sweet tomato sauce is very much in the spirit of the dish.

You don't have to do this in the slow cooker, but it does help the flavours develop beautifully and you can do it during the four hours that the pork is in the oven.  If not, start it on the hob, use about double the amount of liquid and then transfer, covered, to the oven to bake for an hour or so.

Ingredients

1 large can haricot beans, drained
1 large can baked beans
150g smoked bacon, diced
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp ground allspice
Tsp English mustard powder
3 tbsp tomato puree
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp soft brown sugar
2 bay leaves
sprig of thyme
Tsp Worcestershire sauce

Serves 6, 5 pro points per portion

Add the bacon to a cold frying pan and raise the heat gradually so that it browns in its own fat.  Once the pan is up to heat, add the onion and soften for around 5 minutes, then add the garlic for a further two minutes.

Transfer the contents of the pan, along with all of the other ingredients to the slow cooker.  Add half a bean can of water, season and stir well.  Slow cook on low for 4-5 hours.