Make the crispy caper breadcrumbs. Set a medium skillet over medium heat. Once the skillet is hot, add the olive oil and vegan butter. Let the vegan butter melt and froth a bit before adding the capers and thyme leaves. Stir until the thyme is really fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the breadcrumbs to the skillet and some salt and pepper. Stir the breadcrumbs frequently until quite browned and crisp, about 3-4 minutes. Set aside to cool.
In an upright blender, combine the sun dried tomatoes and vegetable stock. Blend this mixture until it is completely smooth and smoothie-like in texture. Set aside.
Set a braiser-style pot or a large, deep skillet over medium heat. Once the pot is hot, add the olive oil and swirl it around. Add the shallots to the pot and stir. Cook the shallots, stirring often, until they are very translucent and soft, about 5 minutes. Lower the heat if they start to brown too quick.
Add the garlic and thyme to the pot, season with salt and pepper, and stir until garlic is very fragrant, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste to the pot and stir it around and cook for a full minute (just to get the tin-y/raw flavour out).
Pour the red wine into the pot and stir. Let the wine bubble up and reduce by half, stirring often.
Once the red wine is reduced, add the white beans and the blended sun dried tomato mixture to the pot. Season liberally with salt and pepper and stir. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then simmer for 15-20 minutes, or until the sun dried tomato mixture has reduced a bit, appears jammy, and is clinging to the white beans.
Serve the jammy sun dried tomato white beans hot with sprinkles of crispy caper breadcrumbs on top and drizzles of olive oil.
I used dry sun dried tomatoes, but the ones packed in oil will also work. Just drain them really well first. Also, I’d recommend using that oil that they’re packed in instead of the olive oil in both parts of the recipe! Mega flavour!
White wine would work great in place of the red. If you’d prefer to not use wine, I’d substitute about 1/4 cup more of vegetable stock and a splash of any vinegar that you like (balsamic, apple cider, sherry etc.)
If you have extra oregano around, using that in place of the thyme is delicious!
I recommend serving this with some nice crusty bread and a simple green salad.
Jammy sun dried tomato white beans with crispy caper breadcrumbs is a flavourful and simple vegan main course made with pantry ingredients.