Black-eyed pea salad....yummy!

Do y'all remember back at the beginning of the year, when I was whinging and whining and carrying on like a headless chicken about black-eyed peas being so hard to find here in Oz?

Well, Miz K messaged me and told me that she had found them at her local IGA for $1.99 a bag ...
So... while we were in Melbourne for the Neil Young concert last month,
the old guy and I hoofed ourselves over to Miz K's grocery store and bought 10 bags of good ol' black eyed peas.
TEN bags !!
Because, you just never know when you're going to get a craving, do you? And you never know how many years it'll be before you find more.

Then last night while doing a major shop, I came across the new "international" section of my local grocery store... and guess what they had!!
They had black eyed peas - from the US, no less!!
And they were only $1.69 a bag!
Okay, okay, I know that I already had 10 bags in the cupboard, but my momma didn't raise no fools... so I bought another 10.
Now I have 20.

And guess who had a craving this afternoon? Yep... me.
Well, maybe it had a bit to do with not having enough cupboard space for those 20 bags, but I swear.. I had a craving too.
"Black-eyed pea salad" sounded just about perfect for dinner tonight, so that's what we had.

The salad's quick and easy to make
(once the peas are cooked, or if you use canned)
and it was just the perfect light supper, served with corn muffins... Mmm mmm mmm!



This isn't my photo, but my camera batteries are flat, so this is the best I could do.
Imagine chopped cukes and extra jalapenos..Oh My!!)

Black-eyed Pea Salad.
3-4 cups cooked black eyed peas ( or 2 15oz cans)
1 large tomato, diced
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced (I used more)
1 small red bell pepper (capsicum), finely chopped
1 jalapeno, finely chopped ( I used much more - thank you Miz K!!)
2 tablespoons chopped green onions (spring onions)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
1/2 cup diced cucumber
(a little crispy fried bacon (chopped) is good too, but I didn't have any)

Toss the ingredients into a bowl a mix lightly and then set aside while you make the dressing.
Bottled Italian dressing is good too.

Dressing
3-4 T balsamic vinegar
2-3 T olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
In a cup , mix balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over the vegetables and toss lightly.

Cover, and chill in the refrigerator 8 hours, or overnight...
We ate ours as soon as it was prepared... but I also like it when the black-eyed peas are still hot, as well.