Black-eyed pea cakes with Tomato Corn Salsa

I've seen black-eyed pea cakes a few times now in the Lowcountry.  Once or twice on a Charleston menu and in a couple of magazines and food blogs.  Your father swore to me that these would be amazing so I took his word for it and made these with several minor changes to the recipes I found.  We had some baked ham with this recipe but make no mistake...these black-eyed pea cakes and the tomato corn salsa were the star of the show.  It's recipes like this that make me think I could totally be a vegetarian....well, pescatarian maybe?!

Note:  These are awesome when first cooked but don't hold your breath for leftovers.  They do not reheat well so only make what you plan to eat.  Cut the recipe in half to make only 6-8.

Ingredients:
Salsa:
2 cups of frozen corn, thawed in the fridge
1 cup black eyed peas, drained and rinsed (take this out of the amount below under cakes)
1 whole tomato, diced (or you could use cherry tomatoes sliced in half)
2 tablespoons diced green onion
1 tablespoon sherry
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar (or omit sherry and use same amount of sherry vinegar)
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
A little cracked black pepper

Black-eyed Pea Cakes (makes about 12-13, 3 in patties):
4 cans black eyed peas, drained and rinsed (minus the 1 cup for the salsa above)
1 cup seasoned panko
4 eggs
1/2 cup diced green onions
a good pinch of red pepper
1/2 teaspoon Salt and pepper each
2-3 tablespoons olive oil for cooking them

Preparation:
Add drained and rinsed black-eyed peas to food processor on high pulsing until well minced.
Add mashed peas to a bowl and mix in panko, eggs, green onions, red pepper, salt, and pepper.
Use an ice cream scoop to scoop out pea mixture and form into patties in your hand.  This recipe should make about 12-13 uniform patties.
Set patties aside on a plate and prepare salsa.
Make your salsa first because the black-eyed pea cakes are best when served hot and right off the skillet.
To prepare salsa, heat skillet to medium high, add a teaspoon of olive oil and once hot, add corn.
Stir corn for 3 minutes and remove to a bowl and let cool.
Stir in remaining of salsa ingredients.
Add 1 tablespoon of oil to same pan and heat reduce heat a bit to medium.
Once hot, add black-eyed pea cakes to pan but don't over crowd.
Cook 4-5 minutes per side until browned and crusty.
Repeat until all are cooked!
Serve with a salsa and a dollop of sour cream.