Is it summer yet? It’s starting to look like summer, though it hasn’t quite felt like summer. But the sun has been out and I’ve ventured out without my coat more than once. And I’ve been wanting to host a rooftop party with hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, green salad, pasta salad, grilled asparagus. Mmm. Doesn’t that sound good?
Yesterday at the market I bought frankfurters from Olympic Provisions. They are my new favorite kind of frankfurters. Goodbye, Hebrew National. I also picked up some collard greens, because they just seem to go with the weather lately.
So this morning I dreamed up these baked beans. You guys. They are really good. I served them with my OP franks and a collard green salad: raw collard greens, cut up into small pieces, tossed with a diced shallot, a diced tomato, olive oil, red wine vinegar and salt and pepper.
Usually collard greens are cooked until mushy with bacon and onions. Those kind of collard greens are an art form. Amazingly delicious. But they are also tasty, peppery and fresh when eaten raw. And since it’s almost summer, well, that just seemed more fitting.
So anyway. Back to the beans. Have you tried Vincent Family Cranberry products? You should. (No, they are not paying me to say that.) It’s the best juice, the best dried cranberries. Not too sweet – in fact hardly sweet at all. They are sold at several local grocery stores and also the Farmers Market. For this recipe, I used the Cranberry Marionberry juice, which is just slightly sweeter the regular cranberry juice. Whatever brand of juice you use for this recipe, make sure it is 100% juice w/ little or no sugar added. That will give you the best result.
The kick of Sriracha adds just the slightest bit of heat, but is not overpowering. The slightly sweet beans are perfectly complemented by the salty, juicy frankfurters and the crispy collard greens. I love Portland in summer. Where else can you get hand-crafted frankfurters, fresh local cranberry juice and collard greens all in the same marketplace?
Cranberry Baked Beans with Bacon
1/2 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced
1 T. olive oil
1 T. butter
5 pieces of bacon, cooked
2 cans Great Northern beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 c. cranberry juice
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. whole grain mustard
Sel Gris salt
Fresh ground pepper
dash of Sriracha
In a cast-iron skillet, add the olive oil and butter and heat over medium heat until melted. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper and stir. Cook over medium heat until onions are caramelized and slightly crispy on the edges, about 25 minutes. Take 3 of the 5 bacon strips and crumble them into the onions. Add the beans, stir to combine. Add the cranberry juice, sugar, mustard, Sriracha and season with salt and pepper. Stir and cook over medium heat until reduced, about 20 minutes. In the meantime, heat the oven to broil.
Crumble the remaining 2 bacon strips over the top of the beans and place the skillet under the broiler until bubbling and brown on top, about 7 minutes.
Serves 4.
