Full English Breakfast Bowl
A full English breakfast is really an assembly of separate savory components, which is exactly why it survives the loss of the meat and eggs: the tomatoes, mushrooms, beans, and greens were always the best part of the plate. Here the tinned baked beans become navy beans simmered in a quick smoked-paprika tomato sauce, sweet and thick without the added sugar the tins carry. The mushrooms are seared hard and dry so they brown and turn meaty, then glazed with a little tamari for the salt-free savoriness of bacon. Tomatoes blister in the same pan, spinach wilts in seconds, and it all lands in a bowl instead of spread across a plate. It is a substantial, high-protein start to the day that happens to cost about a dollar.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Navy beans, cooked or canned, drained
- 3/4 cup Canned crushed tomatoes
- 1 tbsp Tomato paste
- 1/2 tsp Smoked paprika
- 2 tsp Apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 whole Yellow onions, finely diced
- 8 oz Cremini mushrooms, thickly sliced
- 1 tsp Low-sodium tamari
- 1 cup Cherry tomatoes, on the vine if possible
- 2 cloves Garlic, minced
- 4 cups Spinach, packed
- 1/2 tsp Dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp Black peppercorns, freshly ground
- 2 tbsp Flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Method
- Start the beans: sweat the onion in a small pot in a splash of water until soft, stir in the tomato paste and smoked paprika for a minute, then add the crushed tomatoes, navy beans, and a splash of water. Simmer low while everything else cooks. Long, slow simmering is what turns tinned tomatoes and beans into the jammy, savory sauce that a full English needs, no molasses or sugar required. Finish with the cider vinegar.
- Get a dry nonstick or cast-iron pan hot and lay the mushrooms in a single layer without moving them. Left alone in a hot dry pan, mushrooms release their water, and once it boils off they sear and brown; crowding or stirring steams them into gray rubber instead. Once golden, add the thyme and the tamari and toss for 30 seconds, letting the tamari cook down to a savory glaze that reads like the bacon it replaces.
- Push the mushrooms aside and add the cherry tomatoes to the same pan. Blister them over high heat until the skins split and collapse, about 4 minutes. High dry heat concentrates them and gives the sweet, slightly charred tomatoes of the fry-up without a grill.
- Add the garlic and spinach to the pan with the water still clinging to the leaves and toss just until wilted, under a minute. Spinach collapses to a fraction of its volume, so what looks like too much is one portion.
- Build two bowls: a ladle of tomato beans, a pile of mushrooms, the blistered tomatoes, and the spinach. Grind over black pepper and scatter parsley. The bowl comes together fastest if the beans simmer while you work the one hot pan through mushrooms, then tomatoes, then greens.
Nutrition
Estimated per serving: 300 calories, 16 g protein, 13 g fiber, 150 mg sodium. Computed from USDA FoodData Central reference values for the main ingredients. This is an approximation, not a laboratory measurement. How these are computed.
Cost per serving is estimated from US national-average retail prices for cheap staple forms, using BLS dried-bean prices and USDA produce prices. Prices vary by store and season, so treat it as a guide, not a receipt. How this is computed.
