Cold Green Pea Salad

A classic southern salad. A version of this is included in the 1974 cookbook: Monga Ma's Legacy: Ole-time Cooking in Georgia, by Cherry Clements, who was a friend of my grandmother Augusta Whitehurst in Dublin, Ga. (My grandmother was an accomplished country cook as well). I remember my mother making this colorful salad for holiday meals.

Ingredients:

One 15 oz can of tiny 'petis pois' green peas or very young small green peas (Can substitute the canned peas with a 10 oz package of frozen small green peas, cooked with a couple of tablespoons of water for about 5 min in the microwave on Hi, and cooled with running water).

I cup finely chopped celery stalks

1 4-oz jar of sliced sweet pimentos

1/3 cup regular mayonnaise (Hellmans/Best)

dash of black pepper and paprika

lettuce leaves for serving

• Drain canned or cooked peas well and mix with celery, most of the pimentos, mayonnaise, pepper and paprika

• Line a serving dish with leaves of lettuce, mound the pea salad onto the lettuce leaves, and decorate the top of the salad with reserved pimento pieces.

• Chill in the refrigerator until served, can make a day ahead.

Note: traditionally the pea salad recipe includes a half cup of shredded or finely diced cheddar or jack cheese, but I prefer it without the cheese.

4 servings

82 calories per serving, 1 g protein, 5 g fat, 186 mg sodium, 2 g fiber, 5 g sugar