Since childhood memories of disliking black-eyed peas at New Year’s, Nick Erven has come around on the quintessentially Southern legume. “Now I love them,” he says, having settled in after a year as executive chef at Summer House on Music Lane, Hotel Magdalena’s full-service restaurant in Austin. “And I love that kind of cooking. There’s a rusticity to it that I really enjoy.” Erven had hummus on the brain as he developed Summer House’s menu following his time running the kitchen at Wax Myrtle’s, where the food was “Tex-Med.” He decided to try it with black-eyed peas, and the result was a dish so good he keeps putting it back on the menu.
Erven uses dried black-eyed peas from Marsh Hen Mill or Rancho Gordo. “What I like about them is they cook quickly and they have their own really unique flavor that works with deeply roasted vegetable flavors,” he says, which is why he pairs the hummus with a roasted vegetable salsa. After soaking overnight and draining, he cooks the peas in water with a little bit of baking soda before pureeing them and adding them to his hummus base. “For this [recipe] specifically, we overcook them because we want them to break down into that puree,” he clarifies. “Usually you cook them until they’re just done, season the water, and let them sit and finish soaking up all that delicious love.”
