Puttanesca Bean Salad
Puttanesca pasta is one of my go-to pantry meals, but I figured I’d lighten it up and make it a little more meal-prep friendly. Peak tomato season is almost here, but until they're at their full potential (get ready for some tomato recipes), Trader Joe’s slow-roasted tomatoes are hard to beat. This salad gets better each day as the flavors meld—day two and three might be even better than the first.
~ Camilla
Harlan’s Food For Thought
The following are the macros for this week's meal. Calculated per serving, 4 servings per meal:
Protein: 15g
Carbohydrate: 40g
Fat: 5g
Calories: 242
This week's meal is low-calorie and packed with vitamins and minerals. You may have noticed that anchovies are included in the recipe, so let's talk about some of the health benefits we get from these little fish.
Like many of the small ocean-dwelling fish (sardines, mackerel, herring, etc.) Anchovies are packed with vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 fatty acids. They are a great source of calcium, potassium, iron, and selenium, contributing to a healthy brain and heart. The Omega-3s will help lower inflammation and optimize the body's antioxidative potential.
Anchovies, like many other fish and seafoods, do contain small amounts of mercury. As a heavy metal, we know that mercury can cause serious systemic issues with prolonged exposure. But there's a kicker: when ingested with selenium, mercury becomes essentially inactivated. Selenium binds to mercury and makes a compound called mercury-selenide, which causes mercury to be excreted instead of absorbed, preventing the storage of functional mercury in the body. This process allows us to extract the health benefits from the fish without the risk of heavy metal toxicity!
~ Harlan Wolff, Registered Nurse and Clinical Educator
Puttanesca Bean Salad
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients
1 (15 oz) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 (5 oz) jar slow-roasted or sun-dried tomatoes, chopped, plus their juices and oil
¼ cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
2 tbsp capers
3 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
1 bunch fresh parsley, finely chopped
¼ tsp dried oregano
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ cup shaved Parmesan or Pecorino
Juice of 1 lemon
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Instructions
Toss everything together in a large bowl. Taste for salt—but with the anchovies, capers, olives, and cheese, it’s probably already well seasoned.
