♥This recipe has been taste tested and has family and friends approval for being Just Amazing! It holds such great memories and of course requests for this now famous recipe. So here is Bob letting you know what makes it so special.
This is a recipe I can rightfully claim as original. It’s a global fusion of American baked beans, Italian sausage, Mexican salsa, Canadian vegetables and spices from India.
It’s a side dish that began as our contribution for family camp outs, potluck events and neighborhood gatherings.
What’s so inspiring when I make this was the reaction of people who taste something new and different. They all know what baked beans taste like but there is something else they can’t quite figure out. They want to know what that ‘something’ that they are tasting is.
The name of the recipe is inspired by those who have previously enjoyed it and refer to it fondly as Bob’s Beans.
Ingredients
2 Italian sausages
1 medium sized onion
1 red or yellow pepper
1 tablespoon each: curry powder, garam masala, cumin, tandoori spice
1 jar salsa
2 tablespoon oil
The recipe starts with about a pound of sausage. I usually use mild Italian, but any sausage will work fine. Remove the casing from it so it will cook up like hamburger meat.
Add a little oil and cook this up on the stove or in a pan on your barbecue. Make sure to break up the meat as it cooks.
Rough chop a medium sized onion. Dice a red or yellow pepper. Add this to the sizzling sausage mixture and mix it in well and cook for a few minutes until the veggies begin to soften.
Then add the spice mixture all at once. I use about a tablespoon each of cumin, curry powder, garam masala and tandoori chicken spice. That may sound like a lot but trust me on this. Mix it thoroughly and you will see the meat and veggies begin to thicken up a bit.
That’s when you add about half a jar of salsa. Use whatever is your favorite. Stir this in and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes on low heat.
Then open up a few cans of whatever your favorite brand and flavour of canned baked beans is. Add them in and mix well. Everything is cooked now, so you just need to warm everything up before serving it.
If you have a small group, use a couple of cans of beans. If it’s a larger group, add a few more cans and the other half of the salsa jar.
Tips
You can make the main mixture a day or two ahead and add the canned beans on the day of.
Use bacon instead of sausage. Or leave out the meat and make it vegetarian.
Change up the spice blend if you like, just don’t be shy about how much you use.
