Southwestern Cowpea Salad

There are a few foods that Jeff absolutely hates, and top on that list is anthing that uses sweet corn kernels.  Yet, this is exactly what is used to make almost any "southwestern" style salad in the modern American cuisine.  As far as Jeff is concerned the way that God intended corn to be used is as cooked posole, which has an excellent texture and wonderful nutty flavor as opposed to the sweet-only insipid flavor of sweet corn.  To illustrate just how much better posole serves in these recipes, we present here a southwestern cowpea salad that now bears little resemblance to its initial presentation in Mark Miller’s 1994 The Great Salsa Book (ISBN 978-0785830764).  Note that the salad keeps mellowing and melding it flavors for many days in the refrigerator.  Be sure to give it at least 24 hours before serving. 

1 cup dry cowpeas
1 cup nixtamal or dry posole (we used home-made blue corn posole)
1 large poblano (ancho) chile
1 cup white wine vinegar
2 cups water
2 green serrano chiles, halved
1 teaspoon salt
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 teaspoon dry Mexican oregano
1 teaspoon dry thyme
2 bay leaves
½ cup diced celery
½ cup diced carrots
1 small sweet red bell pepper, diced
1 small sweet yellow bell pepper, diced
1 small sweet orange bell pepper, diced
1 small red onion, peeled, cut in half and cut into ¼ inch wide slices
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
½ cup chopped cilantro
½ cup chopped green onion

Cook the cowpeas until tender.  Remove from heat and drain.  If you are using more than one cowpea variety, cook each type separately as they will cook at different rates.

Cook nixtamal/posole until tender.  Remove from heat and drain.

Roast fresh poblano over a fire or hot burner, turning until all sides are blistered and blackened.  Remove from heat, place in a plastic bag, and let steam for 5 minutes.  Remove from bag and rinse under cold water to remove the blackened skin.  Open and remove the seeds.  Cut into ½ x 2” strips. 

Bring vinegar, water, salt, Serrano chili, oregano, thyme, cinnamon, black pepper and bay to a boil.  Simmer for 15 minutes.  Strain out solids.

Bring the liquid back to a simmer and add in the diced carrots and celery.  Poach for 5 minutes.  Add in the diced red, yellow, and orange bell peppers and red onion slices.  Poach for another 5 minutes.  Strain out the vegetables and let cool.  Return the poaching liquid to the pan and continue boil until reduced to ½ cup.  Remove from heat and cool. 

Whisk together the olive oil and reduced poaching liquid, and toss with the cooked cowpeas, posole, poblano strips, poached vegetables, chopped cilantro and green onion.  Let stand for a least overnight to allow the flavors to meld.  Serve at room temperature.

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