Pickled Foods and Feta Relish

I think I might have mentioned before that I have a lot of pickled foods in the house. I remembered that one of the things I have is a large jar of lupini beans. I love these things, but if you buy them in a jar, make sure you rinse them (or they taste a little funny). The bulk aisle prepared lupini always taste fine without rinsing them though. They always come with little membrane skins, so you'll want to take those off so you don't have to pull the skins out of your mouth as you're eating. Eventually you'll get a rhythm down and you'll stop seeing beans go flying all over the kitchen. Anyway, I wanted to mix some of these things up and put some cheese on them, for a "one stop shopping" kind of way to eat my pickles. Not only is this easy, but it also works really well on a hot summer day. It can be eaten as a salad, or works well to top other items with, when eaten as a relish. I ate it by itself, on top of hot dogs, and even as an accompaniment to the shells. As with everything, be flexible and let this work for you. If you're not a pickled beans kind of person, use something else. Hope you enjoy!

1 cup lupini beans, rinsed and skinned
1/2 cup olives (any kind, preferably pitted)
1 refrigerator-style pickle, chopped (I used Klaussen's here)
1/4 cup each: chopped banana peppers, artichoke hearts
1/2 cup feta cheese
1 tablespoon each: oil from artichoke hearts, brine from whichever of your pickles you find most flavourful
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon za'atar spice or any other bread dipping spice (optional)

Combine all the pickles and cheese. Whisk together oil, brine, salt, pepper and spice (if using). Fold into other ingredients, chill and eat by itself or use to top other things with. Makes approximately 2 or so cups.

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