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    Home » This and That » Sunny Asparagus Tapenade. Homemade. Healthy. Easy.

    by Kathy Patalsky · updated: Sep 13, 2019 · published: Jan 26, 2010 · About 3 minutes to read this article. 10 Comments

    Sunny Asparagus Tapenade. Homemade. Healthy. Easy.

    My Sunny Asparagus Tapenade is the perfect recipe to perk up any dish – sandwiches, salads, pasta or appetizer platters. Plus, you’ll be adding a delicious dose of super fresh, healthy veggies to your meal or snack. Gourmet. Simple. Yummy. Versatile.

    Homemade Tapenade. I must say, I’ve been quite obsessed with veggie tapenades lately. You know, the kind that come in those cute little jars and have simple ingredients like olive oil, salt, garlic, capers, pepper, spices and some sort of main veggie ingredient. Olives, artichoke, red pepper etc. Such simple, timeless flavors – blissfully delicious. Light bulb! Hmm, why spend $3-8 per tiny jar when I could easily make these myself – with handpicked, super fresh, creative ingredients? Thus I set off to create my very first homemade tapenade. Did it work? Well lets put it this way, I could barely stop licking the spoon as I tried to carry on with my tapenade photo shoot. Delicious. Easy. A real recipe winner. Get it…


    Thick or Thin? The one thing I noticed about making tapenade is that I had a lot of extra water in my mix. My tapenade blended up kinda slushy at first, but I added another scoop of sunflower seeds and even a palmful of croutons, and it firmed right up. Plus, blending for a long time helps too. And you will want to drain your asparagus (or any veggie ingredient) well before placing it in my Vitamix.

    My final result was a tapenade that was a bit thinner in consistency than the jarred store-bought brands – but that extra water is healthy! A higher water content makes your tapenade much more hydrating than the bottled tapenades. That means less calories per bite. And don’t worry, there’s no sacrifice in flavor. The freshness of the flavors send you into loud moans of “mmmmm!” Asparagus never tasted so elegantly delish!


    Sunny Asparagus Tapenade
    vegan,
    makes about 10 servings, one serving = 3.2 Tbsp – recipe makes just over 2 cups of tapenade

    1/4 cup lemon juice
    3/4 cup parsley, chopped
    1 tablespoon olive oil
    1 clove garlic
    1/2 teaspoon sea salt
    1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
    1/4 cup orange juice
    2 teaspoons agave syrup
    1/3 cup sunflower seeds
    1 teaspoon black pepper
    2 tablespoons breadcrumbs, optional
    12 ounces asparagus

    Directions:

    1. Chop your raw asparagus. Add it to a soup pot of salted boiling water. Boil for 4-5 minutes. Strain, and rinse well with ice cold water, or submerge into ice bath. Set aside. Leave out 1-2 asparagus tips for garnish.

    2. To a high speed blender or food processor, add your lemon and orange juice, olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, agave syrup, parsley, spicy red pepper flakes and sunflower seeds. Lightly blend.

    3. Add in the chopped and blanched asparagus. Blend until smooth.

    4. Do a taste test. If you’d like a thicker tapenade, add 2 Tbsp of plain vegan croutons. Or bread sticks. Or day old bread.

    5. Pour tapenade into a serving dish and garnish with asparagus spear and whole sunflower seeds. Chill or serve at once. Serve with crackers, veggie sticks or spread on toasts and sandwiches.

    Nutritional Info per serving
    1 serving = 3.2 Tbsp
    about 10 servings per recipe

    *I used my new Vitamix to pulse this dip into creamy, yet chunky perfection.

    Food energy: 58 calories
    Saturated fatty acids: 0.48g
    Monounsaturated fatty acids: 1.50g
    Polyunsaturated fatty acids: 1.86g
    Total fat: 3.85g
    Calories from fat: 34
    Cholesterol: —
    Carbohydrate, by difference: 5.16g
    Total dietary fiber: 1.52g
    Protein: 1.81g
    Total lipid (fat): 4.03g

    *calculated with MacGourmet




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    About Kathy Patalsky

    Hey there! I'm Kathy, lover of kitty cats, weekend baking, 90's movies, travel, beach fog and foamy lattes. Since 2007, I have been sharing my vegan recipes and photos. My goal is to make your cooking life a little easier, delicious - and plant-loaded - while sharing some LIFE and conversation along the way.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Anonymous says

      January 28, 2010 at 12:13 pm

      I can't wait to try making this. It looks divine! I've tried making olive tapenade but never thought of using asparagus. Thank you!

      Reply
    2. Kevin says

      January 27, 2010 at 3:17 am

      This sounds so light and fresh and good!

      Reply
    3. Kathy says

      January 27, 2010 at 12:00 am

      smilingreenmom~

      Hmm…you could use more croutons or perhaps another nut? Unless he is allergic to all nuts and seeds.

      You could also use another veggie like raw carrots or perhaps raw radish…just to give it some more texture.

      Or try a few handfuls of raw beans…garbanzo? Might be delish!

      ~Kathy

      Reply
    4. Kathy says

      January 26, 2010 at 11:58 pm

      Thanks for the great comments guys! This really was a super yummy recipe…and sooo bright green even the next day (due to the ice bath after cooking and the lemon juice).

      And Jenna, sorry! 🙂 I just see ingredients in Whole Foods and get inspired. If I lived in Cali again and could go to a huge farmer's market in winter….I'd def be more seasonal. But I WILL be making this tapenade again in summer with some fresh-local asparagus!

      ~Kathy

      Reply
    5. Sarah The Hipster Veg says

      January 26, 2010 at 8:41 pm

      Wow. This just looks AMAZING! Will look into making it soon! Mmmmmmm!!! How can you not be into tapenade?!

      Reply
    6. smilinggreenmom says

      January 26, 2010 at 7:33 pm

      We love tapenade with olives – yummmy!!! I will have to make this though just for fun -but w/o the seeds since our son is allergic. Maybe I could use extra croutons instead?

      Reply
    7. Fig+Sage says

      January 26, 2010 at 4:18 pm

      WOW this looks so good! I'm going to have to try this!!! Thanks for your great ideas, Kathy 🙂

      Reply
    8. Jenna says

      January 26, 2010 at 3:47 pm

      You are such a tease with the summer ingredients!! You should cook some foods that are in season, lol. It is unfair!!

      Reply
    9. Kathy says

      January 26, 2010 at 3:30 pm

      Emily,

      Just added that info to post. This recipe makes about 2 cups of tapenade – depending on how thick your asparagus stalks are. And a few other minor factors. One serving is about 3.2 Tablespoons. About 10 serings per recipe.

      Thanks for the question!

      Kathy

      Reply
    10. Emily says

      January 26, 2010 at 1:47 pm

      Sounds delicious. How big is a serving size?

      Reply

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