Cajun Caviar

Cajun French:  la feve (la fev) – pea

 

Cajun Caviar, Texas Caviar, Poor Man’s Caviar as many names as there are recipes.  Ours was born out of necessity – friends called and invited us to dinner that night.  We never go anywhere without bringing a dish, what to bring?  After searching the pantry we decided on black eye peas with shrimp, then we saw the avocado on the counter and that sounded refreshing.  So our version of Cajun Caviar was born.

Mais C’est Bon!

Enjoy!!

Ingredients:

Caviar:

• 2 cans black eye peas, drained and rinsed
• 2 avocado, chopped
• 1 cup red onion, sliced fine
• 1# gumbo shrimp (small)
• ½ – 1 Tbl Olive oil
• Lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Paprika
• Cayenne Pepper

Dressing:

• 4 oz olive oil
• 2 oz white wine vinegar
• 3 Tbl honey

 

Heat olive oil to medium in a cast iron skillet.

Sauté shrimp in olive oil, season with salt, cayenne pepper and paprika.

Place in shallow bowl to cool.

 

Whisk olive oil and vinegar until emulsified.

Add honey and whisk until well blended.

 

Chop avocado.

Place in bowl and sprinkle lemon juice over avocado.

 

Rinse sliced onion under cold water and drain.

Combine black eye peas, onion, shrimp and half the dressing.

Fold together using a spatula.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add additional dressing as desired. (we used about 2/3s of the dressing)

Fold in avocado.

 

Serve with scoops or chips of choice.

 

Lagniappe:  This dish is also good on rice as a cold salad.