Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Tex-Mex Black Eyed Pea Dip



For Superbowl Sunday, we were invited to a family get together that was pot luck style. I signed up to make an appetizer and dessert weeks ago, and figured I'd decide what to make closer to the date. A few weeks later, I had a strange craving for Black Eyed Peas, so I bought a pound of dried beans at the grocery store. After cooking them, I ate a small bowl and then put the remaining 7-8 c. of cooked beans in the fridge. And I was stumped... what to do, what to do? 

Finally, the morning of the Superbowl, I searched the pantry and fridge for ingredients to make a dessert and appetizer, and kept coming back to the Black Eyes Peas. Surely  there was some sort of dip or croquette I could make with them, so I did a little google-ing. I found a Paula Deen recipe that was shockingly healthy, and looked really delicious. I even had most of the ingredients on hand, so I got to work on it. I made a few changes, Paula's recipe seemed pretty basic (read: bland), so I decided to give it a Tex-Mex flavor, a cross between Chipotle's two salsas with the addition of beans. The end result was a delicious, fresh salsa/dip that was perfect with Tostitos scoops chips! This also made a little over 2 quarts of dip, so it was plentiful.

Note: I highly recommend cooking dried beans for this, canned tend to be mushy, and for this dip you want the peas to hold their shape and have a bit of a bite. I simply added 1 lb. beans to 8 c. salted water, brought to a boil, reduced and simmered for 45 minutes/1 hour, drained, cooled and stored in the refrigerator. 

Tex-Mex Black Eyed Pea Dip
heavily adapted from Paula Deen

3/4 lb. dried Black Eyed Peas, cooked
2 c. frozen corn kernels
1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 green bell pepper, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
4 scallions, minced (or 1/4 red onion)
1/2 c. roughly chopped cilantro
1 small jalapeƱo, seeded and minced

dressing:
1 garlic clove, pasted with salt
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. honey
1/2 c. EVOO
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Add all salad ingredients to a large plastic storage container or serving bowl.
In a small bowl, whisk together garlic, lime juice, vinegar, chili powder, cumin and honey.
Slowly add EVOO, whisking constantly.
Taste, season with kosher salt and pepper.
Add dressing to the dip, toss well and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Toss well before serving, chilled, with scoops chips. 

7 comments:

Roxan said...

Ash, this looks SO good! You could totally put barley in the leftovers and eat it as a meal. Yum...

VegeCooking Club said...

Shoot I think I would just eat this with a spoon.

Jackie said...

This looks fantastic.

Joanne said...

Who knew Paula had such a healthy recipe in her repertoire! This looks delicious...and I agree with above commenters...I would throw in some barley and call it a meal!

Kelly said...

I love how you say heavily adapted from Paula. I feel like there must have been some mayo, bacon, butter or cheese in the original.

LauraJayne said...

I love anything with chickpeas, but this looks extra-delicious!

Hard hats said...

Well i love Peas and Corn so i like this Recipe very much.It looks so Delicious and testy.Thank you for sharing such a great Dish.