Cannellini Bean

Crispy cornmeal polenta is the health star of this salad: It may be easier for your body to absorb corn's carotenoids from milled products such as polenta, rather than from whole kernels.

Thanks to a few humble additions—sun-dried tomatoes, sweet smoked paprika, and leafy spinach—these saucy beans have real pizzazz. Best of all, the dish requires little more than a quick sauté and simmer.

Thanks to paprika, this meatless main has a spicy, smoky flavor. Domestic smoked paprika can be found at some supermarkets. For a spicier kick, use hot smoked Spanish paprika (Pimentón Picante or Pimentón de La Vera Picante), which is sold at specialty foods stores and at tienda.com.

How good does a pot of this soup on the stove on a chilly, soccer-packed fall Saturday sound?

A rustic, comforting dinner dish.

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

This light salad is pretty enough for a dinner party.

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

In this remarkably tasty side-dish vegetable, instant stock powder provides a long-cooked depth of flavor in minutes. The rich creaminess of the white beans transforms frozen spinach into a healthful and delicious version of creamed spinach. It's not just a side dish though: Use leftover "creamed" spinach as a sauce for pasta or grains (season a bit more heavily) or thin it with enough vegetable stotck to turn it into a soup.

Tuscans are commonly known as mangiafagioli, or bean eaters, and when you simmer cannellini beans on top of the stove and then finish them in the oven with a fresh tomato ragù, you'll understand why. The dish is saucy and comforting—have plenty of good bread on hand—with welcome bursts of acidity from the extra tomatoes scattered on top of the casserole. Grape tomatoes tend to have a sweeter, more concentrated flavor than cherry tomatoes.

Patience is the key to this soul-satisfying soup chock-full of winter greens. Its depth of flavor comes from cooking the soffritto—a mixture of pancetta, onion, celery, carrots, and the ribs from the chard—for a good 45 minutes and from browning the tomato paste. The result is so savory that there's no need for broth; water, canned tomatoes, and a parmesan rind work beautifully. And because this soup must cook slowly, don't worry about prepping all your vegetables before you begin—you can simply chop as you go.

Incorporating tender slow-roasted pork into a sugo (sauce) brings out its fullest potential.

The resulting dish is brothy but thick; it can be thinned with stock for a more traditional soup.

Mashed potatoes are a tried-and-true side dish with steak, but for something new, try an Italian purée of white beans—it's just as creamy and much faster.

A great side, but also a nice vegetarian dinner when made with vegetable broth and served over rice.

A leek, carrot, and celery mirepoix, cooked until tender with rich white beans, gets a crisp, crunchy texture and delightfully rustic flavor from a garlicky bread-crumb topping flecked with parsley.

Savoy cabbage would work well here, too.

The tangy sweetness of cherry tomatoes contrasts nicely with the plump, smoky chops, while green-olive paste gives a briny edge to the white beans.

The chicken calls for oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes from a jar, and this dip cleverly makes use of some of that oil.