Part I · Heart Healthy
Prep time: 30 mins Cook time: about 20 mins (eggs, pasta and mushrooms side by side), plus at least 1 hour chilling Yield: about 22 cups, 11 servings
A big cold Mediterranean pasta salad of red lentil rotini, Great Northern beans and hard-boiled eggs, with crisp cucumber, sweet peppers, tomatoes and browned mushrooms in a lemon and red wine vinegar dressing. It is high in protein and fibre, low in sodium, holds for days, and makes a ready-made work lunch.
Written October 2026, on a Wednesday: a whole-food lunch to take to work in place of a shake, as a VA dietitian had suggested the day before.
Why It Works
- Red lentil pasta: Made from red lentil flour alone, it carries nearly twice the protein of ordinary pasta, plenty of fibre and no sodium. It firms up as it chills, so it is cooked a little short and rinsed cold.
- Beans and eggs instead of meat: Two cans of Great Northern beans and four eggs plus four extra whites make it a full meal with no meat, and most of the eggs’ cholesterol stays out with the four unused yolks.
- Browned mushrooms with a vinegar finish: Cooked until their liquid is gone, then splashed with red wine vinegar, oregano and smoked paprika, they taste like antipasto mushrooms and add a smoky, savoury depth. Raw mushrooms would turn spongy and grey in the dressing.
- English cucumbers: Thin, unwaxed skin and tiny seeds mean no peeling or seeding, and they stay crisp instead of watering down the salad.
- A generous dressing: Beans and pasta keep soaking it up as they chill, so the dressing is made a third bigger than a plain pasta salad’s, and the salad still tastes dressed the next day.
Ingredients
The Base:
- Red Lentil Rotini: one 8.8 oz box
- Olive Oil: 1 tsp, to toss the cooked pasta
- Great Northern Beans: 2 cans (15 oz each), rinsed and drained
- Eggs: 8 large (4 whole, plus the whites of 4 more)
The Mushrooms:
- White Mushrooms: 12 oz, sliced
- Olive Oil: 1 Tbsp
- Red Wine Vinegar: 1 Tbsp
- Dried Oregano: ½ tsp
- Smoked Paprika: ½ tsp
- Crushed Red Pepper: 1 Tbsp (use 1 tsp for a milder salad)
The Vegetables:
- Bell Peppers: 3 large (red, yellow and green), chopped
- English Cucumbers: 2, chopped
- Roma Tomatoes: 4 large, chopped (about 2 cups)
The Dressing:
- Olive Oil: 4 Tbsp
- Lemon Juice: 4 Tbsp (about 2 lemons)
- Red Wine Vinegar: 1½ Tbsp
- Dijon Mustard: 1 tsp
- Dried Oregano: 1 tsp
- Crushed Red Pepper: a pinch
- Garlic: 4 cloves, crushed and rested 10 minutes (fewer if you like it milder)
Execution Protocol
Phase 1: Eggs, Pasta and Mushrooms
- The eggs: Cover the eggs (8) with cold water in a pot, bring to a boil, then turn off the heat, cover, and leave 11 minutes. Move them to ice water to cool.
- The pasta: Cook the red lentil rotini (8.8 oz) in plenty of boiling water for 1–2 minutes less than the box says. Drain, rinse under cold water until cool, and toss with the olive oil (1 tsp) so it doesn’t clump.
- The mushrooms: Heat the olive oil (1 Tbsp) in a wide pan over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms (12 oz) in a single layer and leave them for 3–4 minutes, then stir. Cook 8–10 minutes in all, until their liquid has cooked off and the edges are browned. Off the heat, splash in the red wine vinegar (1 Tbsp), oregano (½ tsp), smoked paprika (½ tsp) and crushed red pepper (1 Tbsp), stir as it sizzles, and let them cool completely.
Phase 2: The Dressing
- In the bottom of your biggest bowl, whisk the olive oil (4 Tbsp), lemon juice (4 Tbsp), red wine vinegar (1½ Tbsp), Dijon (1 tsp), oregano (1 tsp), crushed red pepper (a pinch) and garlic (4 cloves). Crush the garlic and let it rest 10 minutes before it meets the lemon, so its allicin can form, then mash or mince it so no one gets a raw chunk.
Phase 3: The Toss
- Peel the eggs. Chop 4 whole eggs and the whites of the other 4, and set the 4 extra yolks aside for another use.
- Add the pasta, bell peppers (3), cucumbers (2), Roma tomatoes (4) and cooled mushrooms to the dressing and toss well.
- Last, fold in the beans (2 cans) and the chopped eggs together, lifting from the bottom in a few slow turns. Canned Great Northern beans are as soft as the eggs and crush easily, so they go in after the hard tossing is done. A few broken beans are fine; they thicken the dressing.
- Chill for at least 1 hour. Stir before serving; it tastes even better the next day.
Variations
- With olives: Add ¼ cup sliced kalamata olives. They are salty, so a few go a long way.
- With feta: Crumble 2 oz feta over the top for a classic Greek note. Feta adds saturated fat and sodium, so keep it small.
- All citrus (no vinegar in the house): Use lemon juice in place of the red wine vinegar: 1 Tbsp on the mushrooms (bottled is fine there) and 1½ Tbsp more in the dressing, for 5½ Tbsp in all. Some lime juice can make up part of it. It tastes brighter and less like antipasto. First made this way, when the vinegar order was late.
- Lighter on eggs: Use 8 egg whites and no yolks for an almost cholesterol-free salad.
Meal Profile
Calculated from USDA FoodData Central values for each ingredient in the amounts above (the whole pot), then divided by about 22 cups. One serving is 2 cups. A value marked † is partial: at least one ingredient has no published value for it, so the true figure is somewhat higher.
The basics
| Whole pot | Per cup | Per 2-cup serving | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy | 2,912 kcal | 132 kcal | 265 kcal |
| Protein | 173 g | 8 g | 16 g |
| Fat, total | 102.1 g | 4.6 g | 9.3 g |
| Saturated | 17.0 g | 0.8 g | 1.5 g |
| Monounsaturated † | 60.2 g | 2.7 g | 5.5 g |
| Polyunsaturated † | 12.9 g | 0.6 g | 1.2 g |
| Carbohydrate, total | 368 g | 17 g | 33 g |
| Fiber | 101.3 g | 4.6 g | 9.2 g |
| Soluble † | 16.0 g | 0.7 g | 1.5 g |
| Insoluble † | 24.3 g | 1.1 g | 2.2 g |
| Beta-glucan † | 2.1 g | 0.1 g | 0.2 g |
| Sugars † | 47.2 g | 2.1 g | 4.3 g |
| Cholesterol † | 744 mg | 34 mg | 68 mg |
| Sodium | 1,306 mg | 59 mg | 119 mg |
| Potassium | 9,278 mg | 422 mg | 843 mg |
| Available carbohydrate (total minus fiber) | 266 g | 12 g | 24 g |
Ratios and shares
- Sodium : potassium: 0.14 (below 1 favours blood pressure; the WHO goal is near 0.6).
- Saturated fat share of energy: 5.3% (guideline: under 10%).
- Protein density: 5.9 g of protein per 100 kcal.
- Omega-3, per serving: 85 mg in total, including EPA + DHA 11 mg (DPA 1 mg, ALA 73 mg). Omega-6 : omega-3 ratio 12.7 : 1.
Fats by type (per serving)
| Fatty acid | Per serving |
|---|---|
| 16:0 palmitic (saturated) † | 1,200 mg |
| 18:0 stearic (saturated) † | 287 mg |
| 18:1 oleic (monounsaturated) † | 5,306 mg |
| 18:2 linoleic, LA (omega-6) † | 1,039 mg |
| 20:4 arachidonic, AA (omega-6) † | 34 mg |
| 18:3 alpha-linolenic, ALA (omega-3) † | 73 mg |
| 20:5 EPA (omega-3) † | 0 mg |
| 22:5 DPA (omega-3) † | 1 mg |
| 22:6 DHA (omega-3) † | 11 mg |
Essential amino acids (per serving, against the daily need of a 74 kg / 163 lb adult)
Not shown: amino-acid values exist for only 36% of this dish’s protein. Packaged foods list protein on the label but not its amino acids, so a table here would understate every line.
Vitamins and minerals (per serving)
Daily references are the U.S. Dietary Reference Intakes for an adult man (31-50).
| Nutrient | Per serving | Daily reference | Share of the day |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vitamin A (RAE) † | 75.2 µg | 900 µg | 8% |
| Vitamin D, total † | 0.4 µg | 15 µg | 3% |
| Vitamin E (alpha-tocopherol) † | 1.67 mg | 15 mg | 11% |
| Vitamin K1 (phylloquinone) † | 19.7 µg | 120 µg | 16% |
| B1 thiamin † | 0.09 mg | 1.2 mg | 7% |
| B2 riboflavin † | 0.31 mg | 1.3 mg | 24% |
| B3 niacin † | 1.78 mg | 16 mg | 11% |
| B5 pantothenic acid † | 1.05 mg | 5 mg | 21% |
| B6 † | 0.22 mg | 1.3 mg | 17% |
| B9 folate, total (DFE) † | 37.8 µg | 400 µg | 9% |
| B12, total † | 0.2 µg | 2.4 µg | 8% |
| Vitamin C † | 67.9 mg | 90 mg | 75% |
| Choline (vitamin-like) † | 67.1 mg | 550 mg | 12% |
| Calcium | 76.5 mg | 1,000 mg | 8% |
| Magnesium † | 42.3 mg | 420 mg | 10% |
| Sodium | 119 mg | 2,300 mg (limit) | 5% |
| Potassium | 843 mg | 3,400 mg | 25% |
| Phosphorus † | 99.8 mg | 700 mg | 14% |
| Iron, total | 3.31 mg | 8 mg | 41% |
| Zinc † | 1.49 mg | 11 mg | 14% |
| Copper † | 0.19 mg | 0.9 mg | 21% |
| Manganese † | 0.17 mg | 2.3 mg | 8% |
| Selenium † | 11.3 µg | 55 µg | 20% |
Phytonutrients (per serving)
- Lutein + zeaxanthin: 213 µg †
- Beta-carotene: 484 µg †
- Lycopene: 936 µg †
- Phytosterols: 27 mg †
- Flavonoids: 2 mg †
- Polyphenols: 46 mg GAE †
- Nitrate: 3 mg †
- Ergothioneine: 2 mg †
Glycemic impact (estimate)
Red lentil pasta and Great Northern beans carry nearly all the carbohydrate; both are legumes, and legumes are among the lowest-GI foods tested. An estimate for the whole bowl. With about 24 g of available carbohydrate per serving, the glycemic load works out to roughly 6–8 (low is 10 or under, high is 20 or over).
Watch-outs
- Oxalate: at least 13 mg per serving; not yet researched for Red lentil rotini (Barilla), Great Northern beans, canned (365 Organic), Egg, whole, Egg white, Red bell pepper, Yellow bell pepper, Green bell pepper, Cucumber, Olive oil, Red wine vinegar, Mustard (Dijon), Oregano (a low-oxalate diet for kidney-stone prevention aims for under 100 mg a day).
- Purines (total): at least 17 mg per serving; not yet researched for Red lentil rotini (Barilla), Great Northern beans, canned (365 Organic), Egg, whole, Egg white, Red bell pepper, Yellow bell pepper, Green bell pepper, Cucumber, Olive oil, Lemon juice, Red wine vinegar, Mustard (Dijon), Oregano. Relevant to uric acid and gout; a low-purine diet keeps to roughly 400 mg a day.
Dog check
Not as written: contains Lemon juice, marked ‘avoid (acidic, psoralens in rind)’; Red wine vinegar, marked ‘avoid (acidic)’; Mustard (Dijon), marked ‘avoid (mustard seed irritates dogs)’. Set aside plain cooked pasta, rinsed beans and a cooked egg white before dressing. The four spare yolks, cooked, make a good dog treat.
Not counted: the crushed red pepper, smoked paprika and garlic (about 40 kcal for the whole bowl, with almost no sodium). Values are from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy), with mercury from FDA monitoring data; see the Master Nutrition & Food Facts workbook for every ingredient.
Notes
- For a dog: the dressing (mustard, vinegar, lemon and garlic) makes the salad unsuitable. Set aside some plain cooked pasta, rinsed beans and a cooked egg white before dressing, or give the 4 spare yolks, cooked, as a treat.
- Keeps 4 days in the fridge in a sealed container. It makes a good work lunch straight from the cooler.
- Yield: the first batch came to about 22 cups, counted bowl by bowl as it was eaten. Before the tomatoes went in it already filled a 1-gallon bowl to the brim, so toss it in something bigger, or in two batches.
Recipe by Tony Seliquini, October 2026. Named by Tony.
Written October 2026 · part of the Recipes collection.