Smoky Spanish Black-Eyed Pea Salad
This week’s batch salad was black-eyed peas with smoked paprika and sherry vinegar, the fifth flavor in a rotation of one-bowl, no-cook salads I mix on the weekend and eat all week. 4.5 out of 5.
It looks earthy. Black-eyed peas, smoked paprika, a rust-colored dressing. I expected something heavy, and the taste is pretty light. It’s filling, and it still tastes fresh after a few days in the fridge.
The batch
Seven servings, mixed in one container. No cooking.
| Amount | Ingredient |
|---|---|
| 4 cans (15.5 oz; ~1,020 g drained) | Black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained |
| 2 jars (12 oz; ~450 g drained) | Roasted red peppers, chopped |
| 3½ cups (570 g) | Cherry tomatoes, halved |
| 5 stalks (~200 g) | Celery, diced |
| 1 medium (~110 g) | Red onion, finely diced |
| 1 cup (135 g) | Green olives, sliced |
| ½ cup (45 g) | Sliced almonds |
| 3½ oz (100 g) | Manchego, diced (sharp cheddar or feta work) |
| 1 bunch (~60 g) | Flat-leaf parsley, chopped |
In my case I used shredded sharp cheddar rather than manchego, since it was what I had on hand. That’s the cheese in the photos.
Dressing: ½ cup (120 g) sherry vinegar, 2⅓ tbsp (30 g) olive oil, 2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp cumin, 2 grated garlic cloves, ½ tsp salt and black pepper. Whisk it in the bottom of the container, add everything else, toss. It’s best from day two, once the paprika and vinegar have worked into the peas.
One warning if you go looking for frozen black-eyed peas instead of canned: most frozen bags are raw and need 20–25 minutes of boiling. Read the package. Only a bag that says fully cooked can go straight into a salad.
Per serving
| Cal | Protein | Carbs | Fiber | Fat | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salad alone | 360 | 16 g | 38 g | 13 g | 17 g |
| + a can of salmon | 560 | 56 g | 38 g | 13 g | 24 g |
| + 2 hard-boiled eggs | 500 | 28 g | 39 g | 13 g | 27 g |
Beans alone don’t carry enough protein for my day, so each bowl gets one of those on top.
Drafting assistance for this piece was provided by Claude (Anthropic). This account describes a personal experience documented from my own records rather than a claim resting on external sources; the opinions are my own.