Olive Oil
4 red or white onions peeled and finely sliced
1 heaped teaspoon smoked paprika
2-3 dried chillis (ancho or chipotle if you can get them), stalks removed
25g butter
6 x 400g tins of pinto or cannellini beans
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
3 or 4 dried bay leaves
seasalt & freshly ground black pepper
White wine vinegar
2 tablespoons molasses
8 Rashers of smoked straky bacon (the best quality you can afford)
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked
A large handful of freshly grated parmesan or cheddar cheese
125g good quality stale bread
Preheat oven 180 c/350 f/gas 4, put a few lugs of olive oil into a large casserole type pan on medium heat. Add your sliced onions and smoked paprika and fry for 10-15 minutes or until softened and lightly coloured, stirring often. While that's happening put your dried chillis into a bowl and cover them with 300 mls boiling water to rehydrate and release theor flavours. Add the butter to the pan of onions and once it's melted add the beans, along with any juices from their tins. Add the tinned tomatoes, bay leaves and a good pinch of salt and pepper, then take the dried chillis out of their soaking water, slice them finely, add them to the pan with the chilli water left behind in the bowl.
Give everything a good stir and bring to a simmer, and turn the heat down to low and cook the beans slowly for 1.5 hours – you want it just blipping away so the beans don't split and go mushy. Have a taste and correct the seasoning with salt and pepper, adding a little swig of vinegar and the molasses to bring out the flavour and give it a beautiful sheen.
Wile the beans are simmering, put the bacon, rosemary leaves and grated cheese into a food prosessor. Tear in the bread and pulse until you have fine flavoured breadcrumbs. Sprinkle this mixture over the beans and put the pan into the oven for about 40 minutes to an hour, until topping is golden, crunchy and delicious. Frankly, it's a meal in itself, but it will also go really nicely next to meat or fish.
