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Bean Surprise! The surprise is… um… that there are things besides beans in it? Or perhaps the surprise is that there are beans in it.

serving

I promise they’re in there. Somewhere.

Bean Surprise
Author: A&P
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 4 firm tomatoes
  • 1 can Ann Page Beans in tomato sauce with pork
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 1/2 green pepper, chopped
  • 2 slices bacon, cut in half
Instructions
  1. Cut a slice from top of each tomato. Scoop out pulp.
  2. Combine pulp, beans, onion and pepper. Fill tomatoes with mixture.
  3. Top with bacon. Place in shallow pan, add remaining filling.
  4. Bake in moderate oven, 375°F., about 30 minutes. 4 servings.
3.2.1263

recipe-beansurprise

So I was reading that ingredient list. And I realized that while we have “baked beans” in the cupboard, I didn’t know what exactly “beans in tomato sauce with pork” was supposed to be. I went off to the grocery store and took a good long look through the canned beans section, and (finally) realized it’s just “pork and beans,” which are generally canned with tomato sauce. I guess that wasn’t a fancy enough name for our friend Ann Page.

A&P had its heyday well before I was making this, so we are using some other brand of pork and beans.

tomatoes

Buzz sliced tops off tomatoes and scooped out pulp.

salsa

And four tomatoes, even medium-small tomatoes, makes a whole lotta pulp. Once again: I swear there are beans in there somewhere.

bakeit

We dutifully stuffed the tomatoes, poured tomato-bean stuff all around, and slapped some bacon on top. (Is it just me, or are retro recipes terrified of chopping up bacon to make it bite-size?)

tasting1

Buzz dug right in. Can’t fault the man’s enthusiasm…

tasting2

Despite this extremely unimpressed expression, he kept eating it and cleaned his plate.

The Verdict: Not bad. Very fresh and bright thanks to all the veggies.

Tasting Notes:

Tasted fine. Tomato was kind of underdone. Think of very fresh salsa with no seasoning mixed with a can of beans. Pretty heavy on the onion, cut back if you want to try it yourself. And why the hell is this served in a tomato?

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