Trainwrecker Beans

When Matt and I were at the icewine festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake I mentioned that we tasted the Trainwrecker Beans at Konzelmann Winery and thought the were the greatest. They’re basically baked beans to the max with bacon and ground beef and mushrooms and a sweet/smoky flavour.

I picked up the recipe while we were there and promised Matt that I would make it. This Saturday night I decided to make this recipe instead of us going out for dinner because we’ve been spending a lot on eating out lately. We had a nice evening in, eating dinner and watching Crazy Stupid Love.

For fun (or shame, perhaps) this afternoon I did a quick calculations on the nutrition facts of this dish. Given the 1/4lb bacon and that most of the ingredients come from a can I was expecting the sodium to be through the roof. And it was worse than I expected. 1300mg of sodium! Holy shit.

Well, that explains why I’ve been so, so bloated the last couple of days.

So I guess this will be a ‘once-in-a-very-very-long-while’ treat because in spite of the nutrition facts, I can’t deny that this dish is tasty. Matt preferred the version I made to the Konzelmann one because it was sweeter, thanks to the use of honey garlic bbq sauce instead of the smoky barbecue sauce that was called for. I added back in the smoky flavour with chipotle chili powder and smoked paprika.

Tranwrecker Beans

Makes 8 cups
adapted from Konzelmann Estates Winery

Ingredients

1/4lb bacon, diced
3 small onions, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
1lb lean ground beef
1 can sliced mushrooms, drained
19oz can diced tomatoes
1/2c tomato sauce
2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 bottle red wine
1/4 c. real maple syrup
1/4 c. ketchup
1/4 c. honey garlic bbq sauce
19oz can red kidney beans
19oz can white kidney beans
19oz can romano beans
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
2 tsp smoked sweet paprika

Directions

Drain & rinse the canned beans well.

Fry the bacon over medium heat in a large pot or dutch oven until almost the fats begin to render. Add onion and jalapeno and cook until the onion begins to soften and sweat. Set aside the bacon and onions mixture.

Add the ground beef to the pot and cook until browned. Add the mustard, mushrooms, tomato sauce, canned tomatoes, and red wine. Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F.

Stir the bacon mixture and the remaining ingredients to the ground beef. Pour into large baking dish (if not already in an oven-friendly pot) and cook uncovered for 45 minutes at 350F.

Nutrition Facts per cup:

Calories: 456 / Fat: 11g (sat. fat: 4g) / Carbs: 48.8g / Protein: 32g / Sodium: 1333mg / Fibre: 10g / Sugar: 17g

Related Posts:

• Niagara Icewine Festival Part 2
• Niagara Icewine Festival
• Whisky Baked Beans