I don’t know about you, but ’round these parts we are literally drowning in scallions; we are getting 7 or 8 huge scallions each week in our CSA, and when I say huge, I mean huge.  These puppies are  close to 3 feet long and the bulbs are the diameter of a quarter. It must be The Summer of the Scallion and nobody told me.  In addition to all the scallion love from my own CSA, our neighbors (and landlords) were kind enough to let us pick up their CSA this week while they are on vacation. Included in their share?  Five big, fat scallions, of course!

Don’t get me wrong; I love the scallion, along with pretty much every other member of the allium family. But they don’t store as well as onions, garlic or leeks, and it has been a challenge to use them up each week before their perky green fronds start going pale and limp, or worse, slimy. Ewww. I’ve been putting them in everything: salads, soups, noodles, potatoes, eggs, pickles…soon I will have to develop a recipe for scallion jam.  I gave a shout out to the Tweeps for good scallion ideas, and Julia suggested drying some in the dehydrator, which I  think I will try this week; someone else suggested Asian-style scallion pancakes, which is another good idea in the queue. But what with me being lazy, and the weather being hot & humid (i.e. too hot to have the dehydrator heating up the air for 24 hours and too hot for standing over a boiling pan of oil) I went with an easy standby: hummus.  As in, no-turning-on-the-stove, minimal-chopping, make-it-in-15-minutes and down-it-all-with-crisp-cool-cucumber-slices hummus. Now I just need to make another 20 or so batches to use up this week’s scallion allotment.

Adapted from my Easy Homemade Hummus recipe, which is adapted from the Moosewood version.

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Scallion Hummus

INGREDIENTS

• 3 – 4 medium cloves garlic
• 1 cup scallions, white & green parts, sliced, divided
• 1 and 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (or 1 15-oz can), divided
• 1/3 cup tahini (sesame paste)
• juice & zest from 1 medium lemon (or 4 tbsp bottled lemon juice)
• 2 – 3 tbsp tamari (soy sauce)
• 2 – 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
• a few dashes of cayenne or other chile powder, to taste
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves
• 1/2 tsp salt (optional)

METHODS

1. Add the garlic cloves and about half of the scallion to the bowl of a small food processor.  Pulse until finely chopped.  Add 1 cup of chickpeas, tahani, lemon juice, tamari, black and cayenne peppers.  Process until well mixed, and smooth, or not-so-smooth, according to your preference.  Drizzle a bit of the olive oil through the feed tube while the motor is running.
2. Turn the motor off, remove lid and taste.  Add olive oil, salt, additional spices, lemon juice, tamari or tahini as needed.  (I generally go through the taste-and-mix process 3 or 4 times before it is perfect).  When you’ve got it where you want it, add the fresh parsley, another 1/4 cup of scallion, and the last 1/2 cup of chickpeas.  Process until well-combined, but still a little chunky – or keep going if you like a smoother hummus.
3. Transfer hummus to a medium bowl and mix in the last of the scallion with a spatula. Reserve a tablespoon or two for garnish. Serve at room temperature with pita bread, whole wheat tortillas, crackers, or crudites. Or sliced, chilled cucumbers – fabulous!

Yields about 2 and 1/2 cups.

OPTIONS

1. I like a quite garlicky hummus; if you prefer it a little milder, cut the amount of garlic in half.
2. You could make this in a mortar & pestle, or even a large bowl using a fork and potato masher, if you do not have a food processor.

STORE

This hummus will last in the refrigerator for about 5 days.

SEASON

Generally scallions are available at farmer’s markets nearly year round.  Usually they disappear in the high heat of summer (although that doesn’t seem to be happening this year!) Spring and Fall are the biggest scallion seasons.