Recipes for spring onion season

Last Wednesday, a friend from the East Coast joined me on a walk through the Santa Monica Farmers Market. While there, he asked what fruit he should be buying, knowing my penchant for buying boxes-full for making jams and preserves. But as we meandered through the street, the thing that caught my eye — and piqued my nose — the most were all the glistening bulbs of spring onions piled high on virtually every farm stand’s table.

The small, slender bulbs with their tender green stalks intact are one of my favorite springtime pleasures. I love them not only because of their flavor, but because they offer an opportunity to see something as common as an everyday onion in a refreshed light, divorced from the grocery store pyramids covered in their dried skin sloughs. These onions, presented with their bright-white flesh and long shoots, brought to mind all the wonderful ways to utilize their springtime vibrancy, rather than cooked-down versions we encounter throughout the rest of the year.

One of the fastest and most hedonistic ways to enjoy them is blistered and dipped in romesco sauce like they do in Catalonia. There the spring onions, called calçots, are grilled until blackened on the outside then served with the piquant romesco, made of roasted ñora peppers, almonds, toasted bread and garlic. This version, of Cornmeal-Fried Spring Onions With Chile Aioli from Jon & Vinny’s, maintains the spirit of the dish, but takes it in an exciting direction.

I love them thinly sliced and used in place of older onions in this recipe for Peruvian Salsa Criolla. The onion’s freshness is matched with thin strips of aji amarillo chile, cilantro and fresh lime juice. I love them piled high on fried pork sandwiches, but they’re fantastic on a bowl of rice and beans as well.

For an incredibly easy weeknight dinner, try my Chicken Thighs Braised in Spring Onion Salsa Verde. I chop up and blend the onions with cilantro, serrano chiles and white wine for a version of salsa verde I learned from a friend in culinary school. The salsa braises browned chicken thighs in the oven until tender and imbued with all those sharp flavors. It’s a great base for a braised pork shoulder as well.

And if I have leftover onions, I’m going to make Genevieve Ko’s Spring Onion Home Fry Tacos. The chopped onions are chopped and cooked with red potatoes and dried ancho chiles, adding their mellow sweetness to the mix that gets piled into warm tortillas.

Cornmeal-Fried Spring Onion With Chile Aioli

This plate of spring onions, dipped in cornmeal batter and fried, then served with Calabrian chile aioli is like a Southern fry cook’s version of a calçotada, the justly famous Catalonian outdoor barbecue of spring onions and romesco sauce. If your spring onions are too big, you can quarter them lengthwise so they’re thin enough to fry quickly.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 45 minutes.

(Los Angeles Times)

Salsa Criolla (Peruvian Pickled Onions And Peppers)

These pickled onions are an essential part of virtually every meal in Peru. Aji amarillo peppers are traditional for their heat and color but are difficult to find fresh in the U.S. Use the jarred variety found in some Latin grocery stores or use a small mild orange chile or orange bell pepper as a substitute.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 30 minutes.

(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

Chicken Thighs Braised in Spring Onion Salsa Verde

The spring onions here are available not just at farmers markets, but in regular grocery stores from late February through May. If you can’t find them, or want to make the dish when they’re not in season, everyday scallions make a great substitute; just use the recommended weight since scallions will be much smaller than the onions.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 1 hour.

(Los Angeles Times)

Spring Onion Home Fry Tacos

These tacos taste great with either corn or flour tortillas. Salsa verde, with its mellow tomatillo tang, brightens the punch of the spring onions even more.
Get the recipe.
Cook time: 25 minutes.

(Los Angeles Times)