Weeknight cooking used to be a breeze for me—I shopped at the market daily on my way home from work, picking up whatever looked good and cooking simple meals. Then last year my husband, Matt, and I opened a restaurant and had a baby girl, so now it’s a miracle if I get anything resembling dinner on our table on our nights off.

But recently, a solution came to me as a memory: When I was a child, my mom often had a pot of beans simmering away on the stove. I finally realize why. It’s worth the small effort it takes to soak dried beans on, say, a Saturday night and then simmer them to tenderness on Sunday afternoon; from that one pot you’ll have a big head start on a variety of tasty meals for the rest of the week.

I know what you’re thinking—opening a can of cooked chickpeas is even easier, and they taste OK, too. But the truth is, home-cooked dried beans just taste better than canned, especially chickpeas (garbanzo beans), which are my go-to dried bean. When cooked properly—a very simple thing to do—dried chickpeas become rich, buttery, and creamy on the inside while maintaining their shape. They also have a lot less sodium than their canned counterparts, and you can flavor them to your liking, as I do in the recipe opposite by adding bay leaves, fresh herbs, and an onion to the pot. A gentle simmer for just over an hour yields tender, creamy beans (and flavorful cooking liquid) that are ready to be turned into several more delicious dinners.

The following recipes are some of my favorite ways to use cooked chickpeas, including a super-simple recipe for pasta with chickpeas and rosemary that was a staple in my house growing up. For a delicious main-course salad, try combining roasted chicken and cauliflower with the chickpeas, fresh arugula, and quickly pickled red onion. You can also add chickpeas to a skillet supper of braised cabbage with cheesy, prosciutto-topped pork medallions, or purée them into a luscious side dish for spiced lamb chops.

Who knew that a big pot of beans would be the key to helping me get dinner back on the table? Thanks, Mom.

Tips for Tender Chickpeas

如果您牢记几件事，可以煮干鹰嘴豆以奶油完美很容易：

Buy your dried chickpeas (or any dried bean) from a store with high turnover.If the chickpeas have been sitting on the shelf for a year or more, they may cook unevenly or even fail to soften. Natural food and ethnic markets are good sources for dried beans, as areranchogordo.com和markethallfoods.com.

Soak dried beans for the best results.An overnight soak ensures that the beans will cook evenly and negates some of the gaseous side effects. Refrigerate the soaking beans to avoid bacterial growth and offset the chance that the beans will ferment.

不要通过将豆子煮沸几分钟，然后让它们坐在热水中来快速擦拭。他们不会均匀煮熟或具有相同的平滑质地。

轻轻煮。Once the chickpeas have come to a boil, immediately turn the heat down to maintain a gentle simmer so their skins remain intact and they cook up creamy, not mealy.

始终品尝几种豆子以检查含量。有些可能会煮熟，而另一些可能需要更多的时间。如果有任何未煮熟的人，请继续烹饪直到所有人都变嫩。

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