Ixta Belfrage’s vegan recipe for butter bean gratin, roast tomatoes and salsa fresca

From theguardian.com

As promised, here’s another (completely different) use for the bechamel I introduced you to last week. This time, it’s flavoured with cumin and cooked in a gratin with butter beans and roast cherry tomatoes, with a zingy salsa fresca to cut through the richness. It’s pretty much a meal in one that needs only a salad or some sauteed greens by way of accompaniment. 

Ixta Belfrage’s creamy butter bean gratin with salsa fresca. Photograph: Louise Hagger/The Guardian. Food styling: Emily Kydd. Prop styling: Jennifer Kay. Food styling assistant: Jessica Geddes.

Creamy butter bean gratin with roast tomatoes and salsa fresca

Gnocchi would also work really well here instead of the beans; cook them in salted water before adding them to the roast tomatoes.

Prep 20 min
Cook 50 min
Serves 2-4

450g sweet ripe cherry tomatoes, such as datterini
15g coriander, leaves and soft stalks
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed with the flat of a knife
3½ tbsp olive oil
2 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp flaked salt
Black pepper
1 x 660g jar cooked butter beans, drained (425g net)

For the cumin bechamel
300g silken tofu, very well drained
40g white miso paste
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp dried onion granules
1 small garlic clove, peeled
½ tsp ground cumin
Lots of freshly grated nutmeg (or ⅛ tsp ground nutmeg)
¼ tsp fine salt

For the salsa fresca
1 medium ripe tomato, finely chopped (100g)
1 red chilli, finely chopped (optional)
¼ onion, finely chopped (30g)
1½ tbsp good olive oil, plus extra to serve
1 tbsp lime juice, plus lime wedges to serve
¼ tsp fine salt
5g (1⅓ tbsp) finely chopped coriander

Heat the oven to 240C (220C fan)/475F/gas 9. Put the cherry tomatoes in a 26cm round ovenproof pan or baking dish in which they’ll all fit snugly in a single layer. Add the coriander, garlic, oil, maple syrup, salt and plenty of pepper, and stir to coat. Roast near the top of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until softened and slightly charred.

Meanwhile, put all the ingredients for the bechamel in a blender with about 10 twists of the pepper mill and blitz smooth.

Once the tomatoes are roasted, stir in the drained butter beans and a tablespoon of water. Turn the grill to its highest setting. Top the beans with the bechamel, leaving spaces here and there for the tomatoes and liquid to bubble through when grilled, then drizzle with oil and grill, again near the top of the oven, until golden brown and bubbling – depending on the strength of your grill, this will take anywhere between five and 12 minutes, so keep an eye on it. (If you have a blowtorch, use that to get a uniform char on the surface once the bechamel has heated through.) Remove and set aside to cool for five minutes.

Meanwhile, make the salsa fresca. In a small bowl, mix the tomato, chilli, onion, oil, lime juice and half a teaspoon of flaked salt. Just before serving, stir in the coriander.

Top the gratin with some of the salsa, then drizzle with oil, sprinkle with flaked salt and black pepper, and serve with lime wedges and the remaining salsa on the side.

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2022/mar/26/vegan-recipe-butter-bean-gratin-ixta-belfrage