Salada de Feijão Frade (Portuguese Black-Eyed Pea Salad)

Every August back in the village, the festa would spill out into the street with long tables, grilled sardines smoking away on tiny braziers, and always, always, a big bowl of feijão frade salad getting passed hand to hand. It is the kind of dish nobody writes down a recipe for because everybody’s aunt already knows it by heart, somewhere between sardinhas assadas (recipe on the site) and salada de polvo (recipe on the site) in the unofficial lineup of Portuguese summer classics.

The salad itself could not be simpler: black-eyed peas tossed with hard-boiled eggs, thinly sliced red onion, a generous handful of parsley, and a sharp olive oil and vinegar dressing. Many families add canned tuna or flaked salt cod to turn it from a side dish into a full meal, and it is a fixture at festas, beach picnics, and pretty much any gathering where someone needs to bring a dish that tastes better as it sits.

I use canned black-eyed peas here because life is short and the canned ones are genuinely good, though dried peas work fine if you have the time. This is one of my reliable make-ahead dishes for Sofia and Lucas’s school picnics, since it actually improves after a few hours in the fridge, no last-minute scrambling required.

Salada de Feijão Frade Recipe

Prep time: 15 minutes · Cook time: 10 minutes · Total: 25 minutes · Servings: 4 as a side · Calories: ~220 per serving

Ingredients

• 2 (15-ounce) cans black-eyed peas, drained and rinsed (or 1 1/2 cups dried, cooked until tender)
• 3 large eggs
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 (5-ounce) can good-quality tuna or flaked cooked salt cod, drained (optional)
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Place the eggs in a small pot, cover with cold water, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover, remove from heat, and let sit 10 minutes. Drain, cool under running water, peel, and chop.
2. In a large bowl, combine the black-eyed peas, red onion, and parsley.
3. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper.
4. Pour the dressing over the peas and toss well. Gently fold in the chopped eggs and tuna or cod, if using.
5. Taste and adjust the salt, pepper, and vinegar. Let sit at room temperature 15 minutes before serving so the flavors come together, or refrigerate and bring back toward room temperature before serving.

Recipe Notes

• Canned black-eyed peas work perfectly well and save a lot of time; if cooking dried peas, no soaking is needed, just simmer them in salted water 40 to 45 minutes until tender but not mushy.
• This salad is a fixture at Portuguese summer festas, usually served alongside grilled sardines (recipe on the site) or octopus salad (recipe on the site).
• It keeps well in the fridge for up to 3 days, which makes it one of my go-to make-ahead dishes for potlucks and school picnics.
• Red wine vinegar is traditional, but a splash of good sherry vinegar is a very welcome substitute if that is what you have open.