Texas Caviar
This was my very first Trader Joe’s hack and has remained one of my favorites. If you don’t live in Texas you probably aren’t familiar with this dish so here’s how Wikipedia describes it.
Texas caviar is a salad of black-eyed peas lightly pickled in a vinaigrette-style dressing, often eaten as a dip accompaniment to tortilla chips.[1][2]Texas caviar was created in the U.S. state of Texas around 1940 by Helen Corbitt, a native New Yorker who later became director of food service for the Zodiac Room at Neiman Marcus in Dallas, Texas.[3][4] She first served the dish on New Year’s Eve at the Houston Country Club. When she later served it at the Driskill Hotel in Austin, Texas, it was given its name, “Texas caviar,” as a humorous comparison to true caviar, an expensive hors d’oeuvre of salt-cured fish roe.
Sure you could make Texas Caviar from scratch, but this TJ hack gives you great results and is made by combining two TJ staples, Steamed Black-eyed Peas and Pico de Gallo Salsa.
The Black-eyed Peas come fully cooked and vacuum sealed. Preparing the Texas Caviar is as simple as combining the contents of both products and mixing them together and adjust for seasoning or acidity with salt and lime juice.
It can be eaten immediately or refrigerated overnight to let the acid in the lime juice from the Pico pickle the beans slightly. Texas Caviar is great served as an appetizer with chips or as a fresh bean salad as part of your main meal.
