the magical fruit

When I was a kid I loved eating baked beans from a can. They had to be the kind that contained maple syrup and I'd definitely pick over that 1 gigantic fatty piece of bacon that seemed to mutate from can to can. I'd dump the can of beans into a small pot and heat up the beans until the liquid would bubble and pop. Then, I'd slather some butter over a fluffy slice of white bread and start my beans and bread eating ritual. First a dollop of beans would go on the bread, then I'd eat off that part. I'd repeat this process until there was no bread left. Usually there would be more beans than bread, so off I would go to butter up another slice and start the process over again until my beans were done. Even when I moved away from home, once in a while, I'd get a craving for beans and buttered bread and I'd repeat my little ritual until that can of beans was gone.

Now that we're getting ready to move, I'm feeling a bit antsy about all we have to pack. In an effort to reduce the stuff we have to pack into boxes, I'm creating another little ritual...something I like to call "Operation: Cupboard Clean-Out". I've been going through all my containers and shelves getting rid of things that are too old to eat and eating things that I don't want to move. Yesterday I found a tin filled with navy beans and decided that this small amount of beans wasn't going to make the journey out of this apartment. So I dumped the beans into a large bowl, covered them with water and decided to make some baked beans of my own. After soaking the beans overnight and cooking them up on the stove, I mixed up a lot of cupboard and fridge ingredients that would not be making the move into the new place. And just to get a little crazy with the clean up, I found a near-empty bag of frozen pineapple in the freezer and decided that the pineapple would end up in the beans. Into the casserole pot the pineapple went and oh my, these baked beans are just made for eating with bread slathered in butter. And this time, I don't have any fatty bacon to pick out. Perfect.

pineapple baked beans
2 c dry white beans
4 bay leaves
1 t olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, diced
6 thin slices of ham, diced
1/4 c molasses
2 T brown sugar
2 T maple syrup
1 14oz can of stewed tomatoes
1/2 c ketchup
2 T deli mustard
1 T cider vinegar
1 c pineapple
hot sauce
pepper

1. Sort through the beans, picking out any that look discoloured or misshapen. Rinse them in a colander under cold water and then transfer to a large bowl. Cover with at least 3 inches of water and soak overnight.

2. Rinse the beans well and put them into a large saucepan. Cover with water and add in the bay leaves. Boil gently until soft, about 1.5 hours. Drain the beans, remove the bay leaves and reserve the cooking liquid.

3. Preheat oven to 375F. In a large cast iron casserole dish, heat oil and add in the garlic, onion, ham and green pepper. Saute until soft. Turn off heat. Add in all remaining ingredients as well as 1 1/2 cups of the cooking liquid. Stir until combined.

4. Cover and bake, removing from the oven and stirring every so often. When most of the liquid has been absorbed (about 2-3 hours) and the sauce has thickened, remove from oven and serve with buttered bread.