Every so often around this house, LeeLee and I get onto a British-food kick. We love the comforting, hearty nature of British meals; even as vegetarians, we can always find something to enjoy at a classic English pub. But some of our very favorite meals are some of the simplest to make: Bangers and mash, beans on toast, or today’s beans on jacket potatoes.
Now, jacket potatoes are just regular old baked potatoes. But I like to say “jacket potato” because it just sounds … better. More refined, you know? Sort of how I like to call the elevator a “lift” even when I’m not in the UK. It’s just more … proper.
Anyway. I digress.
There are probably more complicated ways to make beans on jacket potatoes, but quite honestly I don’t advise it. Not when there are perfectly good British style beans on the market already, and potatoes are so very easy to bake. Why make life more complicated for yourself in the end?
So with that in mind, about an hour before it was time to eat, I popped two huge russet potatoes in the oven wrapped in foil and baked the spuds at 350. When we got about 20 minutes out from dinnertime, I pulled out a good old can of Heinz Beans and heated them right on up.
Pro tip: When you procure your beans, take care not to the get more Americanized version. Instead, go with the less sweet, more tomato-based British version in a can that looks like this:
Then just open them up, put them in a pot, and heat.
When the time comes to serve it all, unwrap your hot potatoes, put them on a place apiece, slice them in half, butter them with however much butter you like (we go with about a pat on each half of the potatoes), top them with beans, and then top THAT with shredded cheddar cheese. Violife does the trick beautifully for such an occasion, but use whatever you prefer!
Then it’s just a matter of sitting down to eat! We served our beans and jacket potatoes with a side of tossed salad and finished the meal perfectly full and satisfied. And ready for another trip to London!
BEANS ON JACKET POTATOES
serves 2
What you’ll need:
2 large baking potatoes
1 can Heinz British beans
Butter, to taste
Cheddar cheese shreds, to taste
Salt and pepper, to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Scrub your potatoes thoroughly and wrap each one in foil. Then put them on the middle rack in the oven for about an hour. (No big worry if you let them linger a little while longer!)
When you’ve got about 20 minutes till dinnertime, open up the beans, put them in a pot and simmer on low heat, stirring occasionally.
When the potatoes are baked and the beans are heated, unwrap the potatoes, slice them each in half, butter each half and spoon out equal amounts of the beans on each portion. Top with salt and pepper to taste, then sprinkle with cheese, and eat! Serve with a side salad for some greenery.
:)