This dish is so close to being vegetarian already, I always feel a bit guilty buying the pancetta for it. I mean, the chicken stock is easy: Just swap it out for vegetable broth. I don't really just want to omit the pancetta though and I don't feel like vegan tempeh bacon will cut it here. So I started Googling around for ideas. I found lots of suggestions for various types of tempeh and tofu bacon. There were also recipes for coconut, chickpea, and eggplant bacon. None of these felt quite right though.

What turned out to be more useful were the pages discussing the flavour profile and different attributes of bacon (and pancetta). Flavour-wise these pork belly products pack a huge wallop of both salt and umami. Bacon also tends to come with a certain amount of smokiness as well as notes of sweetness and a tiny hint of sour. Pancetta, being unsmoked, doesn't bring the smokiness that bacon does. And, although no one really discussed this, I feel like the sweet and sour elements are less evident in pancetta as well. Someone did point out though that pancetta often carries faint notes of nutmeg and fennel as these are sometimes used during the curing process.

Salt and umami can be provided by things like soy sauce and (vegetarian) Worcestershire sauce. Sweet can come from maple syrup or brown sugar. Sour can be in the form of apple cider vinegar or tomato paste. And smoke (if you're going for the whole smoked bacon experience) can come from things like liquid smoke, smoked paprika, chipotle chiles, or... actual smoke, as in you can grill or smoke your food to add some char and/or smoky goodness. Different recipes recommend these things in slightly different proportions, but the basic idea is the same.

So, I have some ideas of how to handle the flavour side of things now, but there's also the issue of texture. Tempeh is great. I really like tempeh. But I don't think it's got quite what I want in the way of texture for this. Tofu is probably a bit closer to what I'm looking for. In a pinch, I'd probably slap a marinade on some tofu, fry it up and chuck that in. I feel like it might still be missing something though. Then one of the pages I was browsing suggested olives as an idea for something that would provide some of the same texture of pancetta (albeit with a decidedly different flavour). I like that idea! Olives. Brilliant! I think we now have a plan for how to make these beans vegetarian!

Please note: I haven't actually tested this recipe yet. I just think it sounds like a good idea. I'll test it and report back the next time I'm making γιγαντες πλακι.

Vegetarian Gigantes Plaki

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 4 onions, chopped
• pepper, to taste
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 6-8 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 150g green olives in brine, drained or 75g green olives and 75g cubed tofu bacon
• 1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp. fennel seeds, ground
• 1 (828mL) tin whole San Marzano tomatoes, broken up
• 450g dried butter beans (aka jumbo lima beans) or great northern beans (if you can't find the others)
• Parmesan rind
• 8 c. vegetable broth
• Parmesan and crusty bread, to serve

Directions

1. If you feel like being fancy you can saute your onions and garlic in the olive oil first and then toss in the spices and olives/tofu and cook them a little bit. If you're not feeling fancy, just dump everything in the pot in one go and set it to low for 10-12 hours. It'll be delicious either way.
2. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Serve with extra Parmesan grated on top and a piece of crusty bread on the side.