Mediterranean Tapenade
On a recent sailboat passage, we wanted a quick, healthy lunch. So I checked what I had in my fridge and pantry and whipped up this Mediterranean Tapenade in 10 minutes. Super fast and SO delicious!!
If I’d had more time or thought ahead, I would have made the garbanzo beans, soaked them overnight in water first, then cooked them in the pressure cooker with a bit of kombu (a type of seaweed). But the quick way is with a can or jar of garbanzo beans. It’s always a trade-off using canned/jarred foods. Cans can have BPA in the liners (some brands like Eden Organic Foods don’t use BPA), and most brands in jars seem to add artificial preservatives. So whenever we can, we make our beans from scratch.
Since we were on a passage and looking for a quick meal, I used the jarred garbanzos for this recipe. Check it out, and let me know what you think?
A little about lectins
We’ve also been reading a lot about lectins lately, a topic I’ll dive into in another post. But here’s a quick primer: lectins are a type of plant “anti-nutrient”, found in seeds and grains, including seeds of some fruits like tomatoes, and cucumbers. These phytochemicals are part of the plant’s defense system to protect it from being eaten. And some people have a genetic predisposition to react poorly to some lectins.
You can get a lectins test to see which if any you react to. I recently did this and discovered my particular body doesn’t do well with tomatoes, lima beans, or green peas. Once I started cutting those out, I felt so much better! Who knew?! So grateful that garbanzo beans weren’t one I react to, as I love them. Some lectins can be destroyed by pressure cooking, and this is a great way to remove them from beans. I’ll write more on this topic soon.
In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this Mediterranean Tapenade as much as we do!!
Mediterranean Tapenade
Ingredients
- 1 20 oz jar garbanzo beans rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup kalamata olives
- 1 14 oz can or jar artichoke hearts in water, drained
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1-2 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 tsp dried rosemary
- 2 tsp capers
Instructions
- Put all ingredients except capers into Vitamix and blend until well blended.
- Fold in capers by hand.
- Serve with crudités or gluten-free crackers.
Please leave a comment to let us know how you liked it, or how you modified it, and what you served it with?
