Briny feta makes a full meal of tomatoey Greek baked beans

On the Greek table, vegetable dishes called ladera are not intended as mere sides. Instead, these filling meals put vegetables center stage, often involving lavish amounts of legumes braised in olive oil and tomato — plus plenty of crusty bread to sop up the juices.

For that, you can thank the Orthodox Christian faith, which calls for meat- and dairy-free diets 40 days before both Easter and Christmas, as well as two weeks in August, plus every Wednesday and Friday the rest of the year. But the tradition has permeated the broader culture, with dishes such as gigantes plaki enjoyed in taverns and homes alike.

This much-loved Greek dish, which is essentially a slightly more elaborate version of baked beans, braises enormous gigante white beans in a savory tomato sauce with copious extra-virgin olive oil for richness. The sauce typically is assembled on the stovetop, and once the dried gigantes