Gigantes

Good Morning!

Well it's not really morning here anymore, it's almost 2:00pm but I woke up at noon and have been doing my usual breakfast/tea/blog perusing ritual. And it's Sunday so I let this ritual go on much longer than should ever be allowed.

I'm just going to do a quick post for today because it is again SUPER hot outside. I'm sitting here in a pair of shorts and a sports bra and I'm sweating...maybe I'm typing a little too vigorously? I don't think so. It's just flippin' hot. So I really need to get down to the beach, find myself a comfy beach chair in the shade and alternate between reading and swimming for the rest of the day. Sorry Lindsey! I know I promised I'd cut down on the beach talk but I swear I'm not trying to rub it in. At this temperature it's a matter of survival! Ok, maybe I'm over exaggerating. I won't die if I'm not at the beach but I certainly won't be comfortable anywhere else. I've noticed that I'm not only completely miserable when it gets too hot, but I actually feel really sick....faint, nauseous, headache, dizziness...all the symptoms you'd expect from overheating or sunstroke except it happens really fast these days. I don't actually have sunstroke, maybe I'm slightly overheated by this point but probably not, it's just the usual pregnancy fragility which is normal and all for a good cause but it can be a little frustrating. Sometimes I just wish I could still do all the things I could do before I was pregnant without the feeling that I'm made of glass. It's like there's 2 lists: a list of all the things that are perfectly ok to do while pregnant,  and a list of things that you have to be careful about or that you can do but just not in the same capacity as you could before you became massive or that you just have to forget about because you can't do it at all. That second list seems to be a lot longer than the first and that really bugs me sometimes. It's not a bad thing. I accept it and I'm absolutely happy about why I have all these limitations for now...but it doesn't mean that sometimes I don't want to throw things and scream get a little bit irritated because I can't go for a run on the beach or have a margarita (or 10) and sushi in the blazing sun while I pet stray cats. Ok, sushi's not that easy to get around here anyway and you probably shouldn't go around petting stray cats but when they look up at you with those big eyes because they know you're an animal lover and you can't even give them a little rub on the top of the head because you might catch something...sad. Anyway, I meant to make this a short post and now I've gone off on a tangent again but clearly I needed to let that out. I'm not complaining...it's just pregnancy isn't easy sometimes no matter what people say and if I hold my frustrations in and don't talk about them..things can get ugly! So thank you for helping me avoid an ugly situation in the future! I'm sure Antonis would thank you too since he usually takes the brunt of those ugly situations...

Anyhoo, before I pack my beach bag I want to give you my recipe for Gigantes (you were probably wondering what that title was all about and when I'd get too it....rambling should also be considered a serious symptom of pregnancy). Gigantes are giant white beans in tomato sauce and they're DELISH!

This photo really does not help my declaration of how amazing these are but it was the only photo I took because I just wanted to eat them haha! I couldn't be bothered with light and angles and fancy dishes and wiping extra tomato sauce off the sides...but then I'm never really bothered by these things because food is ready when it's ready and when it's ready I want to eat it! Period!

Here's what a soaked, ready to be cooked giant bean looks like....(I just added this link for the picture, not whatever else is on that page)
http://www.gaiashope.com/red-carrots-and-prespas-white-kidney-beans/2008/06/17/

It may be hard to find these at your local grocery store, you may have to visit a specialty shop, like a Mediterranean deli or something to pick them up. But I recommend grabbing a bag if you do happen to find any in your travels. If you can't find them or just simply don't want to bother with running around town trying to find something like it, you can just use white navy beans instead. I think navy beans are even easy to find canned so then you can skip the whole 'soak over night' stage. It's still yummy with the smaller navy beans but it's not quite the same as the gigantes. There's just something fun and childlike about chewing on a bean that's nearly the size of your hand! Really!

So here's my recipe for Gigantes:

• 1 (16 ounce) package dried giant white beans
• 2 (16 ounce) cans chopped tomatoes with juice
• 1 cup olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 2-3 carrots
• 1-2 stalks of celery
• chicken stock (I've never measured this, I just add it as it looked like the beans need more moisture...sorry!)
• salt and pepper to taste
• sugar to taste (again I haven't measured this, but I know it's just a little bit)
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
• pinch of oregano

Directions

1.     Place the beans in a large saucepan. Pour enough water to fill to 2 inches above top of the beans. Allow to soak overnight.

2.     Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

3.     Place the saucepan over medium heat; bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium-low and simmer 20 minutes; drain. Pour the beans into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Add the tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, carrots, celery, salt, pepper, sugar, oregano and dill; stir.

4.     cook the vegetables, beans and tomato sauce together in the pan until the vegetables soften slightly and tomatoes begin to blend

5.     Bake in preheated oven for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally and adding chicken stock if the mixture appears dry. How dry or saucy you want it is really up to you. The Greek way is to have enough sauce to cover the beans and maybe a bit extra to sop up with some bread but you don't want to have so much sauce that you're eating it with a spoon...but if that's the way you like it than go for it. 

I've never tried this recipe with canned beans before so if you use canned beans you'll have to adjust the cooking time obviously so they don't turn to mush. Also, Greeks don't usually add carrots or celery to their gigantes but I'm a firm believer in adding vegetables to everything because it's good for you and it tastes good...if you like vegetables of course. I've also added zucchini or onions or whatever veggie I have in the fridge at the time but carrots and celery always seem to get the best reaction so usually I'll stick to this. Also because the first time I made these Antonis told me that these were the best giant beans he'd ever tasted...I celebrated inwardly without being too obvious when I heard that, but it was a pretty proud moment. Like I just passed a test at becoming a Greek citizen or something. Are you Greek? Why yes I am. Not by blood but I can cook a mean Gigantes thank you very much!

Tonight I think the plan is to get some friends together at the restaurant for ouzo and meze which should be fun. Obviously I can't drink the ouzo (sad face...but not too sad because I had my rant today) but I'll definitely eat until I can't eat anymore. I'll take my camera and tell you about it tomorrow. 

And now I'm off to the beach!

Have a great Sunday!