A two-bean salad with marinated tuna on whipped ricotta, and a Basque-style prawn, chickpea and tarragon stew

There are many reasons we should all be eating lots of beans and peas. The one that motivates me the most, however, is quite how tasty they are. When it comes to precooked pulses, there’s a real range in what’s available these days, and in terms of size, texture, cost and flavour, too. I use both tins and jars, and lots of different brands, too, but when the beans are the heart of a dish, it’s those that come in tall, see-through jars that I tend to splash out on. They’re bigger and softer than the tinned sort, and also have more flavour, which makes them as good to eat pretty much straight from the jar as they are to absorb all manner of flavours in a slow-cooked stew.