Cowboy Caviar

Because of COVID, Ruth & I have been cooking more. Homebound and hungry, we have tried many new recipes. One of the better ones appeared in The New York Times last Sunday. We tried it immediately and liked it a lot. It has a very clever name in our opinion, Cowboy Caviar, and is a very old invention. A dietician named Helen Corbitt created it when she moved to Texas in the 1930s.

For the dressing:

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

3 to 4 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Kosher salt and black pepper, at least 1/2 teaspoon each

For the salad:

3 plum (also called Roma) tomatoes, cored, seeded, and diced

1/2 red onion, finely diced (about 3/4 cup)

One 15 ounce can of black beans, rinsed

One 15 ounce can black-eyed peas, rinsed

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels

1 diced red pepper

1 seeded and diced jalapeno pepper

1/2 cups chopped cilantro leaves

1 large green onion, chopped

Make the dressing in a medium bowl and whisk with olive oil. Set aside but use all of it when tossing.

Put the rest of the salad ingredients in a large bowl and toss to combine before adding salad dressing and stirring. Refrigerate 2 hours before serving. I cheated by using about 1/2 tablespoon of Spice Islands bottled cilantro instead of chopping fresh. It didn’t seem to affect the taste, but I promise to use fresh cilantro when we make Cowboy Caviar again. We will because it is both nutritious and delicious.

Hank