Slow Roasted Tomato & Green Bean ‘Bredie’
Bredie is an Afrikaans word for something that’s been slowly cooked — not quite a stew, and definitely not rushed. This is a simple, humble dish of green beans gently simmered in a rich smoky tomato sauce that’s been slow-roasted for depth and sweetness.
It’s full of flavour, nourishing, and the kind of dish that tastes even better the next day – the bonus is it alls comes together in one pot saving you washing up.
What is a bredie?
In South Africa we have two very traditional stews which we call ‘bredies’ in Afrikaans, one being a Tomato Bredie and the other Green Bean Bredie, both are made with lamb and they are full of flavour & delicious.
In this dish I have mixed my European influence with my Afrikaans upbringing, in the hope that traditional purists will give this vegetarian version a go!
A note on produce
Its the end of summer in Cape Town and Autumn feels like its in the air, I took advantage of the beautiful rather over ripe last of the summer organic tomatoes & green beans thats available at the moment.
The better your tomatoes, the better this dish! If out of season, rather opt for tin tomatoes than use underripe tomatoes.
In this recipe I used organic Asian long beans which I found in my Those Who Harvest veggie box – they are simply longer than normal beans which meant they cooked a bit longer. You can find their beans at Wild Organics too.
A note on chipotle peppers
Chipotle peppers are ripe jalapeño chillies that have been smoked and dried, giving them a deep, smoky flavour with mild to moderate heat. You can find them online here or here, but feel free to use smoked red chilli flakes instead.
Serving suggestions
The perfect make ahead dish, serve with some toasted ciabbata and a good buffalo mozzarella torn on top.
Getting ahead
The dish can totally be made ahead, in fact I urge you to make it ahead as it will only get better!
Leftovers
In the unlikely event that there will be leftovers, this dish can be eaten at room temperature or warmed up, making it a super flexible lunchbox filler.
Slow Roasted Tomato & Green Bean ‘Bredie’
Ingredients
- 700 g tomatoes large tomatoes halved or quartered, cherry tomatoes halved
- 300 g green beans topped & tailed, cut into bite size chunks
- 1 red pepper white membrane & seeds removed, roughly chopped
- 1 small dried red smoked chipotle pepper or smoked red chilli flakes (if chipotle is very large, break in half)
- 3 large garlic cloves finely sliced
- 1/2 tablespoon Spanish smoked sweet paprika (I added one tbspn)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste or sundried tomato pesto
- 30 ml extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon flaked sea salt
- 4 tablespoons of fresh herbs I used sage, thyme, oregano and tarragon
- 2 balls buffalo mozzarella to serve
- lemon to serve
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160c.
- In a oven proof medium saucepan, mix all your ingredients, except the green beans, together, toss and roast covered for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour add the beans, mix well and roast for another 20 minutes or until the beans are soft.
- Leave the bredie with the lid off to cool slightly and season with salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil to drizzle.
- Roughly tear the mozzarella and add the zest of 1 lemon and drizzle olive oil over and season the cheese with salt and pepper.
- To serve, add the bredie to quinoa or sliced fab sourdough on the side. Everyone can help themselves to the buffalo mozzarella. Enjoy. This dish is even better the next day!
