The other day I had a certain urge for baked beans, homemade of course, and proceeded to prepare them in the usual way.  I used Dutch Brown Beans--similar to marfax--
that I bought from Fairwinds Farm, who harvests and  dry their own beans.  I served it with frankfurters and caramelized onions, buttermilk biscuits and a Waldorf salad.

Since they’re only two of us in my household I had a nearly full pot of leftover beans staring back at me each time I opened the refrigerator.  But on a languorous New Years Day, I needed a restorative dish and came across an old recipe for a baked bean casserole.  Most recipes call for canned beans, which work fine, but the homemade, if you have it, is so much better. The beans were put to excellent re-use.

New Year’s Day Baked Bean Casserole
Servings: 2 to 6 for lunch or supper

Brown about 1 pound chopped meat until all the color is gone.  Put into a large mixing bowl.  In the fat leftover in the pan, sauté 1 large roughly chopped green pepper, and 1 large roughly chopped onion until slightly softened, about 2 minutes.  Add these to the bowl.  Stir in the leftover beans (or  2 to 3 16-ounce cans store-bought baked beans), about 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/3 cup light brown sugar, a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce and about a heaping teaspoon of prepared yellow mustard.  Mix this all together and transfer to a casserole dish.  Cover with foil and bake for 1 hour.  Remove foil and continue to bake for about 15 to 20 minutes until nicely browned and the liquid has thickened.  Let rest about 10 minutes before serving.

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John Golden has written about food, dining and lifestyle subjects for Downeast magazine, the Boston Globe, Cottages and Gardens magazine, Gourmet magazine, Cuisine magazine, the New York Times and the New York Post.

In his highly opinionated blog, John reports on his experiences dining out all over Maine and his visits with food personalities, farmers and farmers’ markets throughout the state.

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