Black-eyed Peas & Leeks

Published Aug. 7, 2010 at 6:08 a.m.

I have some cool friends. Friends who are far, far cooler than I'll ever be. One example? Sarah Keough. I met Sarah in San Francisco shortly after I graduated from college. I must have been 22, and she was a just a wee teen. Fifteen? Maybe. In addition to being one of the coolest people I know, she's also one of the nicest. As far as I'm concerned, nice beats out cool any day, and a genuine combination of the two is rare. Sarah lives in New York City now, but we've kept in touch over the years. She's one half of the art direction and design studio R&S MEDIA, along with Ralph McGinnis. In addition to that, her photography is always inspiring - this Dinners series is a favorite of mine. Today's recipe actually comes from a new print project from Sarah and Ralph. They've created a digest-sized magazine focused on food and cooking, Put A Egg On It.

You can see a couple of the spreads up above. All in all, the little booklet is a mash-up of stories, photo essays, cooking tips, illustrations, funky fonts...a pet pic or two, all compiled from a quirk-tastic range of contributors. This is the second issue, summer 2010. It is 30-ish pages, and printed on pale green paper. The back section of the magazine is the recipe section, and in this issue, the theme was beans. My understanding is that each new issue will have a recipe section with a new theme. This time around Miriam Bale's black-eyed peas jumped out at me, so I thought I'd share them here.

Miriam notes, "Black-eyed peas are often served with smoky-sweet ham, piquant red pepper and onions, but the best way to emphasize the peas own earthy sweet qualities is to serve them with leeks and tarragon. I first had something like this at the Organic Cafe in Oakland. This dish reminds me of a song by Marlena Shaw, "California Soul."

We really loved the salad. A perfect picnic or potluck salad for sure. The butter added at the end? Don't skimp. It melds everything together. And to be honest, this is one of those cases when more would be even better. Special occasion? Double up.

I made a few tweaks to Miriam's recipe, nothing major. I like caramelized leeks, so I let mine cook longer than she probably would. I also gave ballpark amounts of herbs in the recipe, her instructions where a bit looser and free-form than what I wrote up down below. Just know, if you feel like you want more tarragon or marjoram flavor, add more. Alternately, adding some chopped fresh tarragon and marjoram, might be pretty great. In a sense, doubling and layering flavors by using both dried and fresh forms of the same herb.

If you're interested in a video that flips through the pages of the magazine, you can click here. Put A Egg On It #2 is available here for $7. Congrats R&S, can't wait to see #3.

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