This is Day 3 of Well’s Mediterranean Diet Week. Start at the beginning here.
If I had to choose just one food to always have on hand, it would probably be lentils. They are quick to cook and comfort. My mom’s lentil soup was a staple of my childhood. But I’d also take any of the other legumes – chickpeas, black-eyed peas, cannellini beans, broad beans.
Legumes are a key source of vegetable protein in the Mediterranean diet. one cup of cooked beans, lentils, or peas contains about 15 grams of protein—just under a quarter of the average adult’s daily needs. And research shows that people who get more protein from plant (rather than animal) sources tend to live longer and healthier lives.
One cup of legumes also contains about 13 grams of fiber, or about half the daily recommended amount. Fiber helps your digestive system run smoothly, feeds friendly gut microbes and is thought to trap cholesterol in the intestines, which may explain research suggesting that eating legumes can lower levels of LDL (or “bad ») of cholesterol. Researchers have also linked legumes to improved blood sugar levels and reduced risks of coronary heart disease.
Legumes provide several vitamins and minerals, including iron, which is essential for delivering oxygen to cells. magnesium, which helps regulate blood pressure and blood sugar. folic acid, essential for pregnancy and cell function. and vitamin E, which supports the immune system and protects against cell damage.
Mediterranean diet guidelines usually recommend eating at least two or three servings of legumes per week, which can be done without having to turn on your stove.
But it’s fun — and pretty easy — to cook with legumes, too. And our colleagues at NYT Cooking have a wealth of recipes for us to try.
What to keep on hand
Beans, lentils, and peas are great pantry staples because they’re usually inexpensive and have a long shelf life. Throw in some refrigerated and frozen items and you have a variety of legumes to choose from.
This is always on my shopping list:
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Hummus for snacks and sandwiches (you can buy it pre-made or think it up flogging it yourself)
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Canned beans for quick additions to soups, salads, nachos or tacos
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Dried lentils and beans (if you’ve never cooked beans from scratch, start with fantastic guide)
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Frozen peas and edamame
How to cook with legumes
For each day of the Mediterranean diet series, we and our colleagues at NYT Cooking we’ve selected a few recipes that incorporate the ingredients we highlight. This is not meant to be a meal plan for a day, but rather inspiration on how to include more of these healthy foods into your week.
Beans for breakfast? Yes please. Just add a scoop of black beans to your scrambled eggs and top with gravy or you can go a little more fancy with the delicious Kay Chun huevos rancheros. If you’re planning ahead, try JJ Goode’s adaptation of Steve Sando simple beans on toast; cook up a batch of dried beans over the weekend and you’ll have breakfast covered for at least a few mornings next week.
For lunch, this chickpea salad sandwich, made with canned chickpeas mashed with a creamy lemon-tahini dressing, is delicious and easy to make ahead of time. Lidey Heuck is fast tomato and white bean saladwith a generous piece of wholemeal bread dipped in olive oil, it also makes a light lunch.
Two of my favorite dinner recipes are by Melissa Clark of red lentil soup and Ali Slagle sheet of feta cheese with chickpeas and tomato. They’re easy to prepare from ingredients you may already have on hand — and with a green salad and good bread, they make hearty meals.