Avocado Hummus

Late last year, when the avocado mafia were bombarding me with emails about how to use avocados in all manner of things instead of eating them as nature intended (on Vogels toast, with lots of lemon juice, salt and pepper), I went on strike and hardly ate any. But a couple of weeks ago I found some that were perfectly ripe, with firm, buttery flesh and had a bit of a binge. Well, I ate two in two days. Is that a binge? This is what I did with the third one.

Avocado Hummus

This is hardly a recipe - more what I would tell you to do if you rang me up and said, "what shall I do with this avocado?". It was a complete spur of the moment experiment that turned out exceptionally well. Don't you love it when that happens? The hummus has a faintly green tinge and the lemon juice seems to stop it from going brown if you don't eat it all in one go.

1 clove garlic, smashed

good pinch of sea salt

zest and juice of 2 lemons

1 tin chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 ripe avocado, halved, stoned and peeled

2 spring onions, white part only, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, smashed

good pinch of sea salt

zest and juice of 2 lemons

a slosh of good olive oil

a spoonful or two of tahini (optional)

Put the garlic, salt and lemon zest and juice into a food processor. Whizz briefly. Add all other ingredients and blitz until a smooth puree forms. You may need to add a little more lemon juice or olive oil to taste, but you don't need much olive oil thanks to the avocado. Scrape into a bowl and serve. Store in the fridge for up to three days.

On another note, my friends at Crumbs have declared 2012 to be the year of the vegetable (take that, London Olympics!). They're harnessing the power of the interweb to collate a whole lot of vege-friendly recipes, so do nip over if you're in need of inspiration or have something to share.