Bean and Legume

Serve with crusty bread and a salad, if you like.

f you're making the beans to use for the soup or the sausages, be sure to save the cooking liquid.

A rustic, comforting dinner dish.

Thinly sliced red onion adds flavor and color to this light tuna salad.

This North African-inspired stew is lighter than traditional stews because there's less meat and more vegetables. Shell beans add to the brightness and freshness of the dish. Start the stew a day in advance—the lamb needs to marinate overnight.

This light salad is pretty enough for a dinner party.

This fall salad balances earthy, tangy, sweet, and creamy flavors.

This zesty salad is big on beans and packs plenty of protein and vitamins!

This textural celebration of legumes includes those that are both in and out of pods. You'll find crisp-tender Romano beans and green beans, as well as droves of firm yet creamy fava beans (also called broad beans), which have been a staple in places like Egypt, China, and the Mediterranean for millennia. The beans are all cooked in one pot and then warmed in a skillet, where verdant shreds of basil join them at the last minute for extra oomph. Sound easy? That's because it is.

There's an abundance of parsley at the end of summer, so why not use some instead of basil in your pesto? The herb brings a subtle sharpness to these peas and potatoes.

Green beans cooked crisp-tender retain their vivid color and snap, bringing garden freshness to the table no matter what the season. In this quick Asian-inspired side dish, toasted sesame seeds— along with a dose of sesameoil—:add an aromatic, nutty touch.

Garbanzos con espinacas Native to Iran, chickpeas were introduced in the eastern Mediterranean by the Greeks and Romans, but most scholars believe the Carthaginians carried chickpea seeds to Spain. Spinach arrived with the Moors. This classic pairing, from the kitchens of New Castile, began as a Lenten dish. In time, the combination was rounded out with the addition of salt cod and became an everyday dish, with the faithful sacrificing the salt cod during Lent. Today, the salt cod is sometimes replaced with a ham hock during the cooking of the beans and/or diced cooked ham to the finished dish. (If you opt to include the salt cod, be sure to omit the ham hock.) The stew is enriched with a picada of fried bread and garlic and is fairly thick and substantial. It may even be topped by fried or hard-boiled eggs.

Singapore-style noodles are a favorite in Chinese-American restaurants and are traditionally made using leftover Cantonese roast pork. The dish is lightly seasoned with Indian curry powder, giving the thin rice noodles a beautiful yellow hue. The curry flavor explains the dish's name: Singapore cooking exhibits a significant Indian influence. Stir-fried with small shrimp and peas, this colorful dish can be made ahead of time and very successfully reheated. Cantonese roast pork can be found in Chinese markets. You'll recognize the long and thick reddish-golden meat strips hanging in the window to entice passersby.

Pack carrot and celery sticks along with this lemony hummus.

Here's a recipe for green soup. It's the easiest thing ever.

The height of tomato season often coincides with some of summer's most blistering days. Defeat the heat with a fresh side dish of green beans cloaked in a cool, tomatoey sauce inspired by gazpacho.