Baked Beans

Method

1. The night before, put 80 g of dried haricot beans in a bowl, cover with at least three times their depth of cold water and leave to soak 8–12 hours. They will roughly double in size.
2. Drain and rinse the beans, tip them into a saucepan with fresh cold water to cover by 4 cm and add 1 bay leaf. Bring to the boil, skim off any foam, then simmer gently, uncovered, for 50–60 minutes until the beans are creamy inside but still holding their shape. Do not salt the water or the skins will toughen. Drain, reserving 100 ml of the cooking liquid, and discard the bay leaf.
3. Heat the oven to 150C. In a small ovenproof pan or casserole, warm 2 tsp of sunflower oil over a low heat and sweat 40 g of finely chopped onion for 7 minutes, stirring, until soft and translucent but not coloured.