The Humble Black-eyed Pea Salad

As much as I love to eat my vegetables, and really all vegetables, I am not a fan of iceberg lettuce salads, nor even, any mostly lettuce salads. I like big, hearty salads, kale salads, roasted vegetable salads…
My mom’s favorite salad is a black-eyed pea salad. I love this salad too, for its heartiness, for its flavors and for the healthy fat in its avocado. My parents are at my house, visiting, and my mom wanted to make a dish to take to her church this weekend for their potluck. I think this one is a great choice when one needs to bring a dish to a potluck or party.
She and I each make this salad a little differently than the other. Today, we made her classic style – and below, I suggest variations that I tend toward.

The salad itself – and nothing need be exact about any of this – includes:
2 cups of fresh or thawed from frozen corn kernels
2 cups black-eyed peas or 1 can, rinsed (I use dried, cooked the day before and rinsed, but my mom prefers canned and rinsed) (I also sometimes use 1 cup of rinsed black-eyed peas and 1 cup rinsed black beans)
1 pint of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
½ medium – large red onion, diced
1 medium – large avocado, cubed
1/3 – ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Optional: I also like halved or quartered green, pitted olives, maybe 1/3 – ½ cup. I also add a diced bell pepper. If you like heat, you could add a thinly sliced jalapeño.

The dressing includes:
2 tbsp. olive oil
¼ cup red wine vinegar
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
¼ teaspoon each of garlic powder, cumin, oregano
Add several good dashes of hot sauce

Once the vegetables are chopped, the hardest part is over. This is so easy. Combine all of your vegetables in a large bowl. Combine all of your dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk them together. Pour the combined dressing over the vegetables and gently combine. You can serve this immediately. I prefer to let it marinate together overnight. This will serve ~6.

Truly, it is a humble, but healthy and flavorful dish.