With this Hairy Bikers baked bean pie, three cheeses melt over steamed potato cubes sitting on two cans of beans and buttery onions. And the Brilliant Bakes recipe serves 4 to 6, while I make it about 55 minutes and roughly 645 calories a portion for 4.
Mustard is the one surprise, because Si and Dave stir a tablespoon of wholegrain into the potatoes for “that little edge of heat”. And the rest is simply beans, potatoes and cheese, which they call “the very definition of comfort food”.
The potatoes are steamed in 1.5 to 2cm cubes rather than mashed, so they stay as separate chunks under the cheese. So I check them at 8 minutes with a knife, since I find softer cubes break up when the cheese is stirred in.
Hairy Bikers Baked Bean Pie
Description
Onions fry in butter until golden at the edges, then join both cans of beans and plenty of black pepper in a buttered dish. Then potato cubes tossed with mustard and cheese are spooned over, followed by mozzarella, the rest of the cheese and the reserved parsley.
Ingredients
For the filling
For the topping
Instructions
- Steam the potatoes: Put the potato cubes in a steamer basket over simmering water and steam for 8 to 10 minutes, until tender. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6.
- Fry the onions: Heat the butter in a frying pan and fry the onions over a medium heat until soft, translucent and starting to brown at the edges. Then keep back a tablespoon of the parsley and stir the rest into the onions.
- Add the beans: Butter a deep ovenproof dish, then add the onions and baked beans. Season with black pepper and stir to combine.
- Dress the potatoes: Tip the steamed potatoes into a bowl, stir in the mustard and season with salt and pepper. Then stir in 75g each of the Cheddar and the Gruyère or Comté, and spoon the potatoes over the beans.
- Top and bake: Mix the remaining Cheddar and Gruyère or Comté with the mozzarella and reserved parsley, then sprinkle it over the top. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the cheese has melted and browned and the beans are bubbling up under the potatoes.
FAQs
Can you put baked beans in cottage pie?
Yes, and their closest version is the Ultimate Comfort Food beef and baked bean hotpot, with two cans of beans simmered into mince. Then thin, par-boiled potato slices go on in buttered layers with Cheddar instead of mash, and it bakes for about 25 minutes.
Dave says it was their neighbour Millie’s stand-by meal as a student. But if you’d rather keep it classic, their Perfect Pies cottage pie with cheesy mash leaves the beans out entirely.
Can you put beans in shepherd’s pie?
Their Everyday Winners shepherd’s pie with couscous topping is the one with beans in, since a 400g can of chickpeas goes in with the lamb. Then ras-el-hanout, dried apricots and a couscous and flaked almond topping give it a Middle Eastern flavour, which they say is less carby than mash.
But if you want potato and Cheddar on top, their One Pot Wonders shepherd’s pie bakes raw potato slices straight on the lamb.
Can you use Comté instead of Gruyère?
Yes, either goes in alongside the Cheddar, while the mozzarella only goes on top. So I’d buy whichever is cheaper, because both are nutty and melt smoothly into the potatoes.
And a leftover wedge of Gruyère won’t go to waste, since their Chicken and Egg cauliflower cheese recipe takes Cheddar or Gruyère too. Plus traditional Gruyère and Comté are usually made with animal rennet, so for vegetarians I’d pick cheeses labelled vegetarian, mozzarella included.
Can you add sausages?
None go in here, but they call their Perfect Pies sausage and bean breakfast pie “a real family all-day breakfast of a pie”. And there, 8 browned pork sausages and a fried onion go under a 415g can of beans, with golden fried potato chunks on top.
How many homemade baked beans do you need?
You need 800g to replace the two cans, and their homemade baked beans in Veggie Feasts start from 500g of dried haricot beans. Since they reckon that much gives about 1.3 to 1.5kg cooked, one batch covers this pie with plenty left over.
And they say the beans keep for a week in the fridge or freeze in portions, though they do need an overnight soak first. Then I’d eat any leftover pie within 2 days, reheated in the oven until it’s piping hot right through.
