Peperonata Bean Bake

Peperonata Bean Bake

We absolutely love a good peperonata and this bake takes everything we adore about that classic Italian pepper stew and turns it into a proper hearty dinner. Chunky roasted peppers, sweet tomatoes, olives and fragrant herbs all slow down together in the oven until everything is jammy, silky and deeply savoury. The beans soak up all that gorgeous Mediterranean flavour and make it genuinely filling without feeling heavy. It's the kind of meal that makes your kitchen smell incredible and has everyone hovering around asking what's for dinner. Honestly, just make it tonight.

Cook: 70 min
Serves 2

Before You Start

  • Preheat oven to 200°C
  • Large baking dish
  • Small jug for whisking dressing

Ingredients

  • 1 red onion
  • 2 red peppers
  • 2 yellow pepper
  • 5 vine tomatoes
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • 25g Kalamata olives
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 large sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • 3 sprigs of thyme
  • 75ml olive oil
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 lemon
  • ½ tsp chilli flakes
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 750g butter beans
  • 100g plant-based feta
  • 10g parsley
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method

1

Prep the veg

  • Roughly chop the onion, peppers and tomatoes keeping everything quite chunky
  • Peel and roughly slice the garlic and zest the lemon saving the juice for later
  • Pick the rosemary, thyme and the parsley leaves
2

Bake the veg

  • Transfer the veg to a baking dish, with the garlic, olives, lemon zest, bay leaf, rosemary and thyme sprigs
  • In a small jug, whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, tomato puree, chilli flakes and paprika with a big pinch of salt and pepper
  • Pour over the veg mix and toss everything to coat
  • Place in the oven for 50 minutes, stirring half way until the peppers are really soft but still holding their shape
  • Discard the bay leaf and pour in the beans with their juices, returning to the oven for 10 minutes to warn everything through
3

Finish and serve

  • Stir through the lemon juice and parsley leaves
  • Scatter over the feta with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to serve with crusty bread

Tips & Variations

  • Swap the beans: We love cannellini or butter beans here but chickpeas work brilliantly too. Ian's gone through a bit of a chickpea phase lately and honestly they hold their texture even better after a long roast.
  • Don't skip the lemon: Henry always squeezes that reserved lemon juice over right at the end before serving. It brightens everything up and cuts through the richness of the olive oil beautifully.
  • Make it saucier: If you want more of a saucy, stew-like result, cover the dish with foil for the first 40 minutes and then uncover to let everything caramelise on top. Works really well if you're serving it with crusty bread to mop up the juices.

Why This Works

The trick here is roasting everything together rather than doing it on the hob. That oven heat concentrates the sweetness of the peppers and tomatoes in a way you just can't rush on a stovetop. The balsamic and tomato puree in the dressing add a real depth of flavour that makes the whole thing taste like it's been cooking for hours, even though the oven is doing all the work.