Cooking with canned beans and lentils can sometimes feel...suspicious. Without the foresight required to soak overnight, your pan will be sizzling in just minutes and everything has a lovely, velvety texture. It's so darn good. Impossibly easy! Why do we let these cans languish in our pantries?

Should you need more convincing about the recipes awaiting you, a reader named Sam commented on Lennox Hastie's Greek fasolada last week, reminding us: " Beans are the common food of people from the Blue Zones all around the world, the places where people live the longest and are the healthiest while doing so. Ikaria in Greece is one such place."

Say no more! Happy eating.