Chickpea

"Adding citrus segments takes chickpeas to another level. And I use the fennel bulb, stalks, and fronds in this dish so nothing goes to waste." —Sue Li, recipe developer

This version of pasta e ceci (pasta with chickpeas) thickens the sauce with puréed chickpeas, and it's finished with a fresh garlic-and-rosemary oil, which adds great flavor and an even better aroma.

To save time, use canned chickpeas instead of dried.

Get a taste of North Africa with this lamb slow-cooked with stewed apricots, tomatoes, cinnamon, ginger, and lemon. To complete the Moroccan theme, serve the winter stew atop couscous. Alternatively, pair it with crusty bread for a heartier meal. Just be sure to save some leftovers, as the meat will be even tastier the following day.

Chickpeas make this hearty dish even more gratifying. A half cup of the high-fiber legumes daily can cut your consumption of fatty foods.

This recipe is part of the Epicurious Online Cooking School, in partnership with the Culinary Institute of America. To watch it being made, and to learn how to make other Mediterranean classics, check out the video classes.

We love the frilly edges of olive oil-fried eggs. Serve them over chickpeas for a vegetarian main.

Spiced Chickpeas with Yogurt and Crunchy Pita
I love tiss'ye for many of the same reasons I'm fond of eggplant fatteh: It packs a variety of textures and bold flavors into one simple, comfort-food dish—which also happens to look elegant when served at dinner parties. My mother's friend Bushra often makes tiss'ye without frying or toasting the bread, preferring to let the soft pieces of pita absorb the sauces more fully. I like that version, too, but am partial to the crunch that comes from frying or toasting the pita. I’ve had this preparation more often at Beirut homes and restaurants, but experiment with both versions and see which you like more.

Umami-rich cheese and chicken stock make an encore appearance, but this time they share the spotlight with high-fiber chickpeas. Adding 1/2 cup of these lean beans to your daily diet can help you cut your consumption of fatty foods, a study in the journal Appetite notes

If you like pasta e fagioli, you’ll love this rib-sticking soup that substitutes garbanzo beans for the usual cannellinis and adds some tomatoes for color and flavor. It happens to be my Aunt Raffy’s favorite soup.

Like Italian panzanella, this salad—a specialty of the eastern Mediterranean—pairs fresh vegetables and bread. The combination of vegetables, beans, and herbs is excellent for reducing high cholesterol.

Iron-and folate-rich chickpeas and spinach combine in a delicious sandwich spread that can also be served atop halved cherry tomatoes for a snack.

Loaded with folate, iron, and B vitamins, chickpeas and split peas are also high in protein and fiber. Here they combine to make a satisfying mid-afternoon snack; you can also serve either of them as an easy hors d’oeuvre, alongside a bowl of olives.

Sweet potatoes’ orange hue is the beautiful result of a wealth of betacarotene, which helps support eye health and immunity. Chickpeas provide a rich source of soluble fiber and B-vitamins for cardiovascular health. By serving this dip with crisp-tender vegetables such as red peppers and broccoli, you will also get vitamin C, selenium, and sulforaphane, an antioxidant shown to prevent certain types of cancers. Whole-wheat pita bread is another healthful, fiber-rich alternative to crackers.

Woodsy shiitake mushrooms, protein-rich chickpeas, and brown rice make this a substantial, satisfying soup.

These days it’s almost old-fashioned to cook your own beans, even for restaurants. While canned are surprisingly good (I included many canned beans in recipes in my last book, A Twist of the Wrist), homemade beans are so much better. The key to good dried beans is to cook them long enough so that they become creamy. Many restaurants undercook their beans, and frankly I would rather have canned beans than beans that are dry and chalky.

I was introduced to the concept of a chopped salad in the 1970s at La Scala Boutique, a casual offshoot, now closed, of the Beverly Hills institution La Scala. The salad, which they call the Jean Leon Chopped Salad (it’s now available at the original La Scala restaurant), is made of iceberg lettuce, salami, and mozzarella, all so finely chopped that you almost don’t have to chew it, then topped with ceci, or chickpeas, and a tangy red wine vinaigrette. I was totally addicted to that salad. I’ve been making chopped salads ever since, always with La Scala’s version in mind, but the one we serve at the Pizzeria with aged provolone and Sweet 100 tomatoes is my best yet.

One of the things I like about Italian food in general is that it is not a wimpy cuisine; the flavors are bold and decisive, as you will see in this preparation of bacalà, or salt cod. I first tried this classic preparation at Ristorante Da Delfina, at the same lunch where I also discovered Ribollita “Da Delfina” (page 115). I loved how hearty the dish was and how pronounced the flavors were. In keeping with the Florentine tradition of eating bacalà on Fridays, we serve this as the Friday piatto special in the Pizzeria, and in keeping with our tradition of cooking Pizzeria dishes in the pizza oven, this, too, is cooked in that oven. We start with fresh cod and salt-cure it in the style of old days, where the fish was cured as a way of preserving it. Ideally you will start with a center cut of cod, which will yield more even-size pieces, which will salinate evenly. The cod takes three days to cure, so plan accordingly.

Make a nutritious lunch by spooning this spread into whole-wheat pita halves and layering with tomato slices. Or, for a cocktail hour snack, dab a small amount on cherry tomato halves.