Don't mess with Texas (caviar)

 

The saying goes “everything is bigger in Texas,” including, it appears, the "caviar" created from the humble black-eyed pea in the vinaigrette-soaked relish known as “Texas caviar.” This dish was made popular in Texas by a chef and cookbook author named Helen Corbitt, who built Neiman-Marcus into a shopping mecca known as much for its food as its over-the-top gifts. I accent this snack with home-baked lime tortilla chips.

Texas Caviar

4 cups cooked black-eyed peas

1 medium tomato, seeded and chopped

1 small onion, cut into small dice

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded and diced

Cilantro, handful, chopped, optional

2 cloves garlic, minced

6 tablespoons red wine vinegar

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1/2 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1. In a medium size bowl, mix together peas, tomato, onion, bell pepper and cilantro, if using. In a separate bowl, stir together vinaigrette ingredients. Pour dressing over peas. Serve with tortilla chips.

 Baked Lime & Salt Tortilla Chips

Juice of 1/2 lime

1 teaspoon water

1 teaspoon kosher salt

10 fresh corn tortillas

1. In a small bowl, combine lime juice, water and salt. Brush both sides of the tortillas with mixture. Cut each tortilla into six pieces and spread in a single layer on two baking sheets.

2. Preheat oven to 350. Bake chips in oven for 10 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets to ensure even crisping. Serve warm from the oven, with extra salt sprinkled just before serving.

  A primer on cooking dried black eyed peas:

1.      1.  Take one pound of dried black eyed peas and pour out on a baking sheet. Sort out any rocks and gnarly-looking peas, discarding the losers.

2.      2.  Pour the peas into a large bowl and cover with water. Let soak for up to an hour or overnight, changing the water several times.

3.      3.  Drain the peas and pour into a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer for about 30 minutes, or until peas are tender. The peas will foam up and to keep the peas pretty, you may want to skim the foam with a fine mesh skimmer that can be rinsed in a bowl of cold water. Salt the peas after they are tender, never before. 

M Mmmm, you're thinking, salty and savory, I sure could use a drink to go with this, well, here you go, a Fizzy Limonade that my girls invented this afternoon.

Fizzy Limonade

3 cups water

1 cup sugar

Grated zest of one lime

1 cup lime juice (about 6 Persian limes - not Key limes)

Club soda

Lime slices for garnish

1. In a small saucepan, make a simple syrup by combining sugar, water and lime zest. Bring just to a boil, stir to dissolve sugar, then remove from heat.

2. Set up a fine mesh strainer over a bowl filled with 2 cups of ice. Slowly pour lime-flavored syrup through the strainer. Discard the grated lime zest.

3. Stir the lime juice into the simple syrup mixture.

4. For individual servings, fill glasses 1/3 full with club soda, then to the top with limonade. Garnish with a thin slice of lime.

Text and images copyright 2010, Lucy Mercer.

Blameless Product Promotion

In two years of blogging, I've mentioned quite a few cookbooks, but not mentioned equipment so much. I haven't need of the new rules for bloggers regarding swag and product placement, because honestly, I've never received stuff to blog about. I guess that's a bridge that I'll cross when I get to it.

So, here's my blameless product promotion for a kitchen helper that I've used for about six months and love, love, love: the Microplane Gourmet Series Fine Grater. According to the label, garlic, nutmeg and citrus zest are the primary targets for this implement. I haven't tried it with garlic yet, but nutmeg and lemon and lime rinds are reduced to fine, powdery shavings, the most divine zest you can imagine. The soft plastic handle is quite comfortable and the business area, the space where the Microplane magic occurs, is wide enough to accommodate the largest of lemons. I especially like the base of this tool, the solid, plastic-covered frame. It keeps the plane in place as you zest to your heart's content (or at least the limit of your lemons and limes).

My other zesting tools - a small strip zester that makes my hands cramp just looking at it and a larger Microplane, the kind that most resembles the woodworking tool that started the brand, will now migrate to the back of the tool drawer.

It's New and It's Blue

The last of the fresh and sweet local blueberries deserved special treatment. This yummy, kid-friendly dessert was easy to assemble and didn't heat up the kitchen, like the usual blueberry go-to's, cobblers, crisps and pies. The individual parts can be assembled up to a day ahead and the parfaits layered and served lickety-split. Any bits leftover can be stirred together and eaten as a late-night snack or "special treat" breakfast.

Blueberry & Lime Parfaits

4 cups fresh blueberries, divided

1/3 cup Sprite or water

1/3 cup maple syrup (don't use pancake syrup, get the real stuff. You could also substitute honey)

2 Tbsp fresh lime juice (remove zest before squeezing; you'll need it)

4 oz. cream cheese (I use Neufchatel)

1/3 cup confectioner's sugar

½ tsp. vanilla

1 cup low fat sour cream

1. Place 2 cups blueberries in a saucepan, crush two or three times with a spoon against the side of the pan. Add Sprite or water, syrup (or honey) and lime juice and bring to a boil. Boil, stirring often, for about 10 minutes. Cool and add remaining 2 cups blueberries, holding back a few for garnish.

2. In a mixer, beat cream cheese with sugar, zest and vanilla until well combined. Add sour cream and mix at low speed until combined. Of course, you are very organized and have made this early in the day, so grab your trusty plastic containers and store these two mixtures separately until you are ready to assemble the parfaits.

3. To assemble the parfaits: Find suitable serveware. (Parfait glasses serve a generous portion for adults. I used the short tumblers pictured for the kids' servings. Be sure to use glass that will allow you to see the swirly indigo layers.) Place about 2 tablespoons of the blueberry mixture in the bottom of six parfait glasses. Add a large dollop of cream mixture. Divide remaining blueberry mixture among glasses, then top with a small dollop of cream mixture. Top with reserved blueberries.