Leon's Hippy Farm Beans and recipe book giveaway!

Today I'm very excited to be sharing one of my all-time favourite recipes, and to round it off, the lovely folks at Leon have kindly donated their latest cookbook, Friends and Family, for a blog giveaway!

Ever since I was given Leon's first cookbook for a Christmas present, I've been a die-hard fan. If you haven't come across Leon yet, their premise is simple: fast food that's good for you. Whether you're eating in one of their restaurants or whipping up a recipe at home, you can guarantee good, wholesome grub using seasonal veg and RSPCA approved meat.

A couple of weeks ago I thought I'd give their Hippy Farm Beans a go, and subsequently found my new favourite recipe. If you haven't tried them, do it. Do it now. And what's more, they're even better the day after. I only wish someone would invent 'scratch and sniff' blog posts so you could smell how utterly scrummy they are!



Here's what you do:

Lee's Hippy Farm Beans

Ingredients
1 large shiny aubergine, cut into rough chunks (mine was a bit small so I added a courgette for good measure)
3 bell peppers (preferably yellow and orange), cut into rough chunks
ground cumin
1 big onion, coarsel chopped
at least 3 big cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
at least 3 assorted fiery chillies, roughly chopped
1 punnet (about 350g) of cherry tomatoes
1 tin of good-quality chopped tomatoes
2 tins of good-quality beans (preferably one mixed and the other kidney, black bean or pinto - most varieties suit deliciously)
the secret twist is... Linghams Garlic and Chilli Sauce (available at Tesco and Waitrose and probably lots of other places... or use sweet chilli sauce instead)
300g baby spinach, washed well
rock salt

And also
1 pack of tortillas
3 avocados
a plethora of lime wedges
more chopped chillies
grated cheese if you fancy







Method

Right then. Plenty of oil - about 4 tablespoons. Hot pan, fry the aubergine and peppers for 15 minutes until golden, crispy and lovely. Season with salt and cumin (it's my Moroccan bit), then take them out, cover and put to one side.



Get the pan good and hot again. Fry the onion in a bit more olive oil for a few minutes (brown it), then the garlic and chillies. Few minutes, hot. Then add the cherry tomatoes. Few minutes. Then add the tinned tomatoes and the aubergine and peppers.

Bring to the boil and add the drained beans. Now add a good glug of the sauce. Low heat, a gentle simmer, cover for half an hour, uncover for a further hour, stir regularly. You want a gloopy, unky, smooth texture that cries out to be attacked by the mouth.



Turn the heat off and stir in the spinach well until wilted.



Heat the tortillas, mash or slice the avocados, wedge the limes, scatter with a few fresh chillies. The colours drive you wild. Maybe serve with cheese if you have that creamy need. I just like it with crusty brown bread for dipping.



Enjoy! And now onto the giveaway. Leon have generously donated a copy of their latest cookbook, Family and Friends, for one lucky Queenie and the Dew reader. Honestly, it took a lot of restraint to stop me keeping this gorgeous book all to myself!



Competition details
Due to postage, I'm afraid that this competition is open to UK entrants only. All you need to do is enter through Rafflecopter below! Don't forget you must follow this blog through Google Friends Connect to enter. The competition finishes on Tuesday 5 February.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you can't wait until the giveaway ends, you can also check out some of the recipes from the book on the Leon website.

Lastly, Leon have recenty launched a fab YouTube channel with lots of lovely videos of John and Kay (authors of Family and Friends) cooking recipes from the book. Make sure to check it out!