Vegetarian

This simple vegan dish pairs our creamy white coco beans with a punchy wild garlic pesto. If you haven’t tried brothy beans, you’re missing out on one of the simplest, most comforting and nutritious dishes out there: creamy beans served in their own rich, delicious stock, usually with fresh herbs to add brightness.

A simple salad for hungry spring days, and a delicious outing for the often overlooked jar of horseradish sauce.

This fresh, aromatic dish is perfect for late spring evenings. The well-rounded combination of creamy white beans, sweet fennel, zingy lemon and bitter greens is best enjoyed with some crusty bread and a glass of white wine.

Sikil Pak is a deliciously nutty and moorish traditional Mayan dip made from toasted or roasted pumpkin seeds and charred tomatoes. Serve alongside freshly fried totopos (tortilla chips) with a margarita if you fancy.

This easy and quick dinner from Claire Thomson's brilliant new book One Pan Beans makes the most of whatever veg you have to hand, combined with fragrant fennel yoghurt and hearty borlotti beans.

A substantial soup, almost a main course, combining meaty black beans and sweet red peppers with the heat of red chilli in the accompanying salsa.

This comforting aromatic stew from Vicky Jones' excellent Beans, Peas & Everything In Between, is a perfect vegetarian dish, evocative of the wild fennel much used in Sicilian cooking.

This recipe, from Jenny Chandler's brilliant cookbook Super Pulses, uses black beans to create fudgy, indulgent chocolate brownies. Beans are used in place of flour to add more nutrition and also make this recipe suitable for gluten-free bakers.

The Tex-Mex answer to stuffed crêpes, quesadillas are wheat-flour tortillas stuffed with cheese and whatever else comes to hand. American recipes call for Monterey Jack cheese, or sometimes Cheddar, but Wensleydale works wonderfully. Meaty black beans make these quesadillas more substantial, great for a brunch with guacamole, salsa and sour cream trimmings.

A creamy herby salad of pilau mix, quinoa and lots of fresh herbs and veg, the perfect way to pack in your greens and grains.