Help...ISO a really good black-eyed pea salad for New Year's

[sparkareno]

My southern friend always has to have black-eyed peas for luck on New Years but I don't like the way she prepares them (bland, boiled). We are having burgers so I thought I would bring a black-eyed pea salad to go with them. And then I remembered----I don't have one. Anyone?

[BeefeaterRocks]

Me too, I think I'll give this one a try http://www.chow.com/recipes/21687

[southernexpat]

I LOVE black-eyed pea salad, it goes great with grilled burgers. I don't usually use a recipe, but searching on foodnetwork.com, I found Emeril's blackeyed pea salad, which is pretty much how i do it.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/em...

The jalapenos are a MUST. I use frozen blackeyed peas and just blanch them, you want the peas to stay whole, unlike dried peas which cook up more mooshy. I also don't add bacon, I use olive oil in the dressing, but bacon might be tasty.

Don't fool with that 'essence' junk - just get a cajun spice mix at the spice section.

Happy New Year!

[sparkareno]

Thanks--I saw that (& I had no intention of making his "junk"). I like the bacon too. I also printed out the Cilantro Rice recipe on one of these threads & thought maybe I could just add cooked Black-eyed peas to it. I always buy the fresh--never seen the frozen ones.

[Pia]

The other suggestions seem more Southern-flavored, but if you're up for a more Middle Eastern flavor, I like to make one with lots of green onions and minced parsley, bell peppers, lemon juice, and olive oil.

[toveggiegirl]

Saveur has a really good recipe for Texas Caviar.
http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes...

[ericthefred]

Hi! First post Checking in from Texas. Here's my recipe, which just went into the slow cooker a few minutes ago:

Black-eyed Peas
Two pounds fresh or drained canned peas
1 cup fresh shallot chopped
1 bell pepper chopped
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 ham bone (this is what I do with mine from Christmas. A half-cup of chopped ham to substitute if you don't have a bone. A vegan friend of mine uses winter squash for flavor instead.)
6 cups water
2 tsp white pepper
2 tsp summer savory
2 tsp salt unless ham is salty (country)
Can fry and add some bacon if not enough ham left on bone.

sweat shallots and bell pepper in a bit of oil, add garlic near end. Put in slow cooker with rest of ingredients. 'High' for 4-6 hours or until peas are tender.

[ericthefred]

Thought I would update this. Found it was too much volume for the slow cooker to heat sufficiently (I had doubled my old recipe), and had to transfer it for an hour at medium on the stove. However, the result was fantastic, possibly due to the six hour low heat.