I quite often serve this as a lunch dish, accompanied by a good bread and a leafy green salad.
The richness of the red wine and mushrooms contrasts well with the creamy blandness of the white beans, all topped off with a crispy breadcrumb and parsley crust.
Tian is a French word describing a shallow ovenproof earthenware dish as well as the food cooked in it, which is often topped with breadcrumbs or cheese.
This can be served hot straight from the oven but I think the flavours mingle and intensify if the dish is left to stand for about 15 minutes.
It is also good served at room temperature.
Carrots are a dense vegetable and need to be diced finely to ensure they become tender in the allotted cooking time.
Oil spray
1 x 400g tin (or 1 cups cooked) cannellini or butter beans
2 Tbsp canola oil
2 medium onions, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, (220g total), washed and diced 1cm
1 large red capsicum, (240g), seeded, quartered lengthways and finely sliced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
250g Portabello mushrooms, wiped and chopped
1 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp each chopped fresh rosemary and thyme or 2 tsp dried thyme
Topping
3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
1 Tbsp canola oil
Lightly spray the base and sides of a seven-cup-capacity ovenproof casserole dish. I use a 21cmx6cm round dish.
Pour the cannellini beans into a sieve, rinse with cold water and drain well. Tip into the casserole dish.
Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat and sauté the onions and carrots for four to five minutes, until the onion is limp and lightly golden.
Add the capsicum and garlic to the frying pan and sauté two minutes more. Add these vegetables to the casserole dish.
Lightly spray the frying pan with oil, add the mushrooms and sauté for three to four minutes, spraying lightly with a little more oil if the mushrooms are inclined to stick.
Lower the heat and add the red wine, tomato paste, soy sauce and herbs to the frying pan and bring to the boil.
Pour into the casserole dish and stir gently to mix all the ingredients together.
Mix together the breadcrumbs, parsley and oil and scatter evenly over the top of the vegetables.
Cover loosely with foil and transfer to an oven preheated to 190degC for 30 minutes.
Remove the foil and cook for a further 20 minutes, until the topping is crisp and golden.
Serve hot, if desired, or allow to rest until warm.
Serves four as a main or six as a side dish.
Cook's tip: Cannellini beans are also known as white kidney beans and butter beans in their dried form are called Lima beans.
It is easier and more economical to soak and cook dried beans rather than use the tinned ones.
It does, however, take longer.
I don't think it is worth cooking less than 450g of beans at a time.
This equates to six cups of cooked beans.
When it is cool, I set aside the amount needed for the dish I am making and freeze the remainder in two-cup lots.
Place 450g dried beans in a large saucepan and cover generously with hot water.
Soak for two to eight hours.
Drain and cover with plenty of cold water, bring to the boil and simmer until tender, about an hour.
Or cook in your slow cooker - no need to presoak the beans.
Preheat the cooker for 20 minutes, add 450g dried beans and six cups of very hot water.
Cover with lid and cook on high for 2 to three hours, until tender.
- Joan Bishop
