Southern comforts: the livin' is easy with this cool casual outdoor menu

If you don't live in Georgia or collect cookbooks like mad, you may not have heard of slim Edna Lewis or strapping Scott Peacock--yet. They're one of the most charming culinary couples in the history of Southern cooking, though one of the most unusual: Miss Lewis, as Peacock calls her, is the 80-something granddaughter of a Virginia slave and a doyenne of Southern cooking, but she spent most of her life in the Northeast. Peacock--her protege, co-author and best friend--is half her age but he's already become Georgia's No. 1 culinary son. After several tours of chef duty cooking on a plantation and for two Georgia governors, he's now executive chef at the acclaimed Watershed restaurant in Decatur, and he's a James Beard Foundation Award nominee.

What bridges the watermelon-sized generation gap between the two? Their shared passion for heirloom Southern recipes, like the tempting ones ahead. The midsummer timing is perfect because nobody knows better than Southerners what to eat in the heat: Think chilled field pea salad drizzled with garlic mayonnaise ... mint-laced tomatoes, onions and cukes ... homemade biscuits ... fresh sliced peaches ... and lemonade or club soda spiked with blackberry "acid."

This kind of homey Southern food is what Peacock and Lewis have been working on together for 10 years, cooking and writing and tasting and cooking some more. Their offbeat, loving collaboration recently produced The Gift of Southern Cooking, a collection of time-honored dishes that's won raves from amateurs and pros alike. (It's been nominated for awards by both the International Association of Culinary Professionals and the James Beard Foundation.) The book's contents prove that simple can be every bit as delicious as fancy, as do Peacock's recipes here.

Thank Miss Lewis for that. "It doesn't have to be fancy" could be her kitchen motto, and one Peacock has totally taken to heart ... welcome news on sultry afternoons when the ceiling fan seems to barely stir the air and serious cooking is the last thing on anyone's mind. Coming up, these two total chimers share their menu for a picnic on the porch. It's comfort food, Southern style--designed to help you keep your cool.

Heirloom Tomato-Field Pea Salad

SERVES 6 30 MINUTES OR LESS

Scott Peacock explains that this salad is all about exploring the variations of summer-grown vegetables, especially the different heirloom tomatoes' colors and flavors, including the cherry varieties. In the South, field peas include butter beans--aka lima beans--Crowder peas, black-eyed peas and pink-eyed peas. The Garlic Mayonnaise recipe makes about 1 3/4 cups, but you will use only about 1 tablespoon per serving, drizzled over the salad. You may make the mayonnaise up to 1 day ahead.

Heirloom Tomato-Field Pea Salad

About 2 lb. heirloom tomatoes
2 cups shelled field peas, such as a
  mixture of butter beans, Crowder
  peas and black-eyed peas,
  blanched
Sea salt and freshly ground black
  pepper to taste
3 Tbs. torn fresh basil or small whole
  leaves
2 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil for
  garnish

Garlic Mayonnaise

1 Tbs. cider vinegar
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. dry mustard
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 clove fresh garlic
3 Tbs. boiling water

1. To make Heirloom Tomato-Field Pea
Salad: Cut tomatoes into 1/2-inch slices and
1/2-inch wedges for variation, and cut or
halve cherry and grape tomatoes. Put all
cut-up tomatoes into a large bowl.

2. Put blanched field peas into lightly salted
water. Drain, and add to tomatoes. Season
with salt and pepper. Add basil, and toss
gently. Drizzle with olive oil, and set aside
for about 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, to make Garlic Mayonnaise:
Put vinegar, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt
and mustard into a bowl, and whisk until
salt and mustard are dispersed. Add egg
yolks, and beat until smooth. Add oil, drop
by drop at first, and later in a slow, steady
stream, whisking until oil is incorporated
into an emulsion, Chop garlic, and rub it
into a paste with remaining 1/4 teaspoon
salt. Pour boiling water over garlic paste,
stir well and whisk into mayonnaise. Drizzle
about 6 tablespoons Garlic Mayonnaise
over salad, thinning with more hot water
if needed.

PER SERVING: 300 CAL; 9G PROT; 18G TOTAL FAT (2G SAT. FAT); 27G CARB; ISMG CHOL; 200MG SOD; 6G FIBER; 7G SUGARS

Wine Suggestions

It's hard to match the fresh-from-the-garden flavor, but an R.H. Phillips Sauvignon Blanc is light yet crisp enough to balance the rich, bursting-with-flavor tomatoes and the acidic cider/lemon juice dressing.

Cover Recipe:

Minted Cucumber-Tomato-Onion Salad

SERVES 6 30 MINUTES OR LESS

Summer meals are filled with these three main ingredients. This salad is especially refreshing because the mint gives the salad a clean taste. Don't bother peeling the cucumbers unless they are waxed.

4 large cucumbers
1 large Vidalia or other sweet onion
3 large vine-ripened tomatoes,
  preferably heirloom varieties
Sea salt and freshly ground black
  pepper to taste
1/2 cup champagne vinegar or white
  vinegar
4 Tbs. granulated sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. olive oil
2 heaping Tbs. freshly torn mint
  leaves

1. Slice cucumbers into 1/3-inch-thick
rounds, and put slices into a mixing bowl.
Slice onion into 1/3-inch-thick wedges, and
add co cucumbers. Core and slice tomatoes
into 1/2-inch-thick wedges, and add to
other vegetables.

2. Season generously with salt and pepper.
Dissolve sugar in vinegar in a bowl, and add
salt and olive oil. Whisk to combine, and
pour over vegetables. Toss in mint, check
seasonings and serve.