Review: Black-Eyed Pea Salad - July '01

[Peggy]

I have seen reviews on this somewhere before the boards went down, but seem to be having trouble with the search function... I made this for dinner last night and we thought it was very good! It was the first time I had ever used black-eyed peas in anything so I was a little apprehensive. The sweet onions, cucumber and red bell pepper seemed to go well with the black-eyed peas. Lots of crunch to this salad. The dressing kind of reminded me of a cole slaw dressing. Very good salad! I served it with the Oven Fried Catfish and the Jalapeno Corn Bread from the July issue. I called it my "Southern Dinner"!

Peggy

[SQ]

For a different opinion... . We ate this last week to mixed reviews. Like Peggy, it was also my first experience w/black-eyed peas. None of us (4) were enthusiastic about them. I liked everything about the salad except for the peas. The veggies and the dressing went very well together. If I make this recipe again, I'll substitute canellini beans.

[Nancy171]

I found the dressing to be too runny (I even tried to drain some of it off). Did anyone else have this happen or did I do something wrong?

I love black-eyed peas (ever since my parents retired to the South) and would love to see any other recipes. I'd also be curious as to what brands of canned peas people like -- I tried an organic variety (Annie's, I think) and thought they were a little mushy.

[Peggy]

Nancy,

Perhaps it was the cucumbers that made the dressing runny. I usually place them on paper towels to drain before adding them to salads. This removes some of the excess water. Just a thought...

Peggy

[Kelli Kerrigan]

I did not have any cucumbers in the house since I had used them in the spicy cucumber peanut salad. I did have some celery that needed to be used up, so I tossed that in. The dressing was not runny, so maybe it was the cuc's. I could not find canned black eyed peas, so I had to buy dried and cooked them.
Good, but not terrific. I will make it to go with some catfish, that sounds like a great combo. And since I'll be using the dried peas, I won't have to worry about trying to use up the whole can.