Chef Dimitra
Anginares a la Polita, Constantinople Artichokes (Αγκινάρες αλά Πολίτα)
Constantinople's spring artichokes, pale and lemony, braised with potato, carrot, peas, dill, and enough olive oil to make the sauce shine.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Prespes Gigantes Plaki (Γίγαντες Πλακί Πρεσπών)
Created by
Western Macedonia's giant beans bake plaki-style with tomato, onion, herbs, and enough olive oil to turn the sauce glossy, a Lenten table's comfort and tomorrow's better lunch.
Main Dishes
Greek
Budget Friendly
Make Ahead
Comfort Food
20 min
Active Time
2 hr 45 min cook•15 hr 5 min total
Yield6 servings
Prespes gigantes plaki are Western Macedonia's baked giant beans, broad white beans cooked until creamy, then set in a tapsi with tomato, onion, herbs, and enough olive oil to make the sauce shine. The region is the dish's surname here. Around the Prespa lakes, the bean has weight, sweetness, and a skin that holds when smaller beans would split.
One thing decides the dish: the beans must be soaked overnight and simmered tender before the tomato touches them. Tomato makes the sauce bright, but it slows the softening of a hard bean. If a bean is chalky in the pot, the oven will not rescue it. It will only make it red.
This is nistisimo food, fit for the fasting table without feeling like a compromise. I serve it warm or at room temperature with bread for the oil at the bottom of the dish. My notebook from Prespes has one plain line underlined twice: tender before tomato. That is the whole mercy of the recipe.
Gigantes plaki belongs especially to the bean country of Western Macedonia, around the Prespa lakes of Florina, where cool nights and wet soil favor the large white runner beans. The names Fasolia Gigantes Elefantes Prespon Florinas and Fasolia Gigantes Elefantes Kastorias are protected in the EU as PGI products, a legal recognition of what Greek cooks already knew by the pot. Plaki names the shallow baked method, tomato, onion, herbs, and olive oil cooked until the sauce clings rather than pours, which made the dish a sturdy nistisimo main course for Orthodox fasting days.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried gigantes beans (Greek giant white beans)
Quantity
500g
soaked overnight
bay leaves
Quantity
2
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
140ml
divided
yellow onions
Quantity
2 large, about 300g
finely chopped
carrots
Quantity
2 medium, about 160g
finely diced
celery stalks with leaves
Quantity
2, about 100g
finely chopped
Florina red pepper or red bell pepper
Quantity
1, about 150g
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
minced
tomato paste
Quantity
35g
ripe tomatoes or canned crushed tomatoes
Quantity
600g ripe or 500g canned
grated if fresh
sweet paprika
Quantity
1 teaspoon
dried oregano
Quantity
1 teaspoon
flat-leaf parsley
Quantity
10g
chopped, plus more for serving
dill
Quantity
10g
chopped
fine sea salt
Quantity
10g
divided, plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
reserved bean cooking liquid
Quantity
300-500ml
kept after simmering
lemon wedges (optional)
Quantity
as needed
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried gigantes beans (Greek giant white beans)soaked overnight | 500g |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| extra virgin olive oildivided | 140ml |
| yellow onionsfinely chopped | 2 large, about 300g |
| carrotsfinely diced | 2 medium, about 160g |
| celery stalks with leavesfinely chopped | 2, about 100g |
| Florina red pepper or red bell pepperfinely chopped | 1, about 150g |
| garlic clovesminced | 4 |
| tomato paste | 35g |
| ripe tomatoes or canned crushed tomatoesgrated if fresh | 600g ripe or 500g canned |
| sweet paprika | 1 teaspoon |
| dried oregano | 1 teaspoon |
| flat-leaf parsleychopped, plus more for serving | 10g |
| dillchopped | 10g |
| fine sea saltdivided, plus more to taste | 10g |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/2 teaspoon |
| reserved bean cooking liquidkept after simmering | 300-500ml |
| lemon wedges (optional)for serving | as needed |
Equipment Needed
- •large heavy pot, 5 litre
- •wide pan or shallow casserole, 28cm
- •round metal tapsi or deep ceramic baking dish, 32cm
- •fine skimmer
Instructions
- 1
Soak the beans
Put the gigantes in a large bowl and cover them with cold water by at least 8cm. Leave them 12 to 16 hours, then drain and rinse. They should swell and wrinkle a little at the skin. Discard any stones, broken beans, or stubborn floaters.
The overnight soak is part of the dish, not a decorative instruction. Old or unsoaked beans cook unevenly, with creamy edges and hard centers. No one needs that sadness in a tapsi. - 2
Simmer until tender
Put the drained beans in a large heavy pot and cover with fresh cold water by 5cm. Bring to a full boil for 10 minutes, skimming the gray foam, then add the bay leaves and lower to a gentle simmer. Cook 60 to 90 minutes, until a bean squashes easily between your fingers but still holds its shape. Stir in half the salt during the last 15 minutes. Reserve 500ml of the cooking liquid, then drain the beans.
The oven is for thickening the tomato and oil around the beans, not for fixing a hard center. Tender before tomato. That is the rule. - 3
Soften the vegetables
Heat the oven to 180 C. Warm 90ml of the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery, red pepper, and the remaining salt. Cook 10 to 12 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables soften and smell sweet, with no browning at the edges.
- 4
Build the sauce
Stir in the garlic for 1 minute, then add the tomato paste and paprika and cook until the paste darkens slightly. Add the grated tomatoes or canned tomatoes, oregano, and black pepper. Simmer 10 to 12 minutes, until the sauce thickens enough that a spoon leaves a short trail through it. Taste now. It should be savory and bright, because the beans will calm it down.
- 5
Bake plaki-style
Spread the drained beans in a 32cm tapsi or deep baking dish. Pour the tomato sauce over them, add the parsley, dill, 300ml reserved bean liquid, and the remaining 50ml olive oil. Fold gently so the beans stay whole. The liquid should come halfway to two-thirds up the beans, not drown them. Bake uncovered for 60 to 75 minutes, shaking the pan once or twice, until the sauce clings to the beans, the top beans are lightly bronzed, and green-gold oil gathers at the edges. If the pan dries before the beans look creamy, add a splash more reserved liquid.
Do not cover the pan unless your oven runs fierce. Covered beans stew. Uncovered beans become plaki, with the tomato and oil baked onto them. - 6
Rest and serve
Let the gigantes rest 20 to 30 minutes before serving. Scatter with a little more parsley and bring lemon wedges to the table if you like that sharp finish. Serve warm or at room temperature with country bread. Tomorrow they are often better, which is why Greek kitchens make a full pan.
Chef Tips
- •Buy true gigantes if you can, especially beans from Prespes, Kastoria, or Kato Nevrokopi. Ordinary large lima beans can make a decent baked bean dish, but it won't have the same skin, size, or creamy center. Liga kai kala: a few things, and good ones.
- •Tomato goes in only after the beans are tender. This is the difference between a glossy pan of gigantes and a long afternoon of blaming the oven for what the pot did not finish.
- •Gigantes plaki is nistisimo, so it needs no cheese to make it a meal. On a fasting table, serve it with bread, olives, and horta. Outside the fast, a piece of feta beside it is a Greek kitchen's ordinary happiness.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the beans 12 to 16 hours before cooking; the dish depends on it.
- •The beans can be simmered up to 2 days ahead. Keep them chilled in their cooking liquid, then drain and bake when ready.
- •The finished dish keeps 4 days in the refrigerator and improves after one night. Rewarm gently with a spoonful of water, or serve at room temperature.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 400g)
Calories
540 calories
Total Fat
22 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
19 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
760 mg
Total Carbohydrates
68 g
Dietary Fiber
20 g
Sugars
15 g
Protein
21 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Ladera: Greek Olive-Oil Vegetable Mains
Browse the full collection
Chef Dimitra
Attica Gemista Orfana (Γεμιστά Ορφανά της Αττικής)
Attica gemista orfana are the summer tray of tomatoes and green peppers, rice loose with mint, dill, and parsley, baked with potatoes until the vegetables slump and sweeten.
Chef Dimitra
Bamies Laderes Peloponnisou (Μπάμιες Λαδερές Πελοποννήσου)
Peloponnesian bamies laderes are high-summer okra in tomato and olive oil, a nistisimo pot that depends on one small mercy: vinegar before the braise.
Chef Dimitra
Cycladic Briam (Κυκλαδίτικο Μπριάμ)
Cycladic briam is the summer tray of zucchini, potato, eggplant, tomato, and good olive oil, sliced thin and baked until the vegetables surrender into one sweet, red-gold pan.