Feed Me Feed Me: Baked Beans with Poached Eggs

Here’s a great savoury recipe to make while we’re self-isolating. It’s very versatile, made with pantry and fridge staples. It can be served at any meal of the day for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

It comes from Feed Me Feed Me a new cookbook by Fran Mazza, a half-Italian pastry chef who, with her husband Aaron Carson was the mastermind behind five popular cafes scattered around Auckland, each with a unique atmosphere. We can’t go out for a coffee right now but with these recipes we can still have a café at home!

You will very likely have all the ingredients to hand but if you don’t this is the time to be creative and substitute/leave out as needed. Use any bread instead of sourdough, instead of smoked paprika just paprika will do and you can omit the parsley/microgreens garnish. It will still taste good. 

Baked beans with poached eggs

I’m a huge fan of the bean — there are so many varieties out there. Beans are a great way to start the day as they are loaded with energy and will fill you up until lunch. I always suggest you soak your dried beans overnight for a better tasting bean, less mushy and with more of a bite. However, a good-quality canned bean will do the trick just as well. We’ve used a mix of cannellini and kidney beans, but feel free to use whichever variety you enjoy the most! You could always use chickpeas, too. This recipe was a favourite at Sweetie and Little Sister.

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp ground cumin

1 Tbsp smoked paprika

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

400g can crushed tomatoes

400g can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

400g can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

2 Tbsp white vinegar

8 eggs

1 loaf rustic sourdough

100g parmesan (optional)

chopped Italian parsley, or micro-herbs, to garnish

Directions

Heat oil in a large pot over a medium heat, then sauté onion and garlic until caramelised. Add spices and cook for 2–5 minutes, until fragrant. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and tomatoes. Cook for 10–20 minutes, until thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add beans to tomato sauce and heat until warmed through.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil, then add vinegar. Once water is boiling, crack eggs straight into the pot, then turn down to a gentle simmer and cook for 2 minutes for soft-poached eggs. For a medium poach cook the eggs for 5 minutes, or for a hard poach 7 minutes. Remove poached eggs with a slotted spoon and place on top of a clean tea towel.

To serve, toast thick slices of sourdough and place on serving plates. Spoon hot bean mixture on top of the sourdough. Nestle the eggs into the beans, and with a peeler shave some parmesan on top, if you like. Sprinkle with parsley.

This recipe comes from Feed Me Feed Me by Fran Mazza Published by Random House RRP $50

Reviews by Lyn Potter

Parent and grandparent, Avid traveler, writer & passionate home cook

Read more by Lyn here.