Another of the dishes my mother used to make was good old guacamole: a great dip for chips, a good condiment for hamburgers and steak, if you are so inclined. The version I make is a little plain, but that’s because I really like the taste of fresh avocado, so I rarely gussy it up with much. Also, my wife isn’t fond of tomato, so I use some other ingredients.

Guacamole

Ingredients

• 2 ripe avocados
• 2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice
• a dash of salt
• 4 tablespoons of green chile, or about a half cup tomatoes
• teaspoon coriander or cilantro (optional)

When choosing avocados, I always get ones that are a nice deep green: it’ll take a few days for them to ripen, and they will ripen more quickly when exposed to air, so just leave them on a counter some where. My cats leave them alone (that’s about the only thing they leave alone). When ripe, the avocado will be a much darker green, nearly black, and will be just ever so slightly soft, but not squishy.

My wife dislikes the texture of tomatoes, so I use some of the green chile I’ve mentioned previously. The coriander/cilantro isn’t for everyone, though. I find it can mask the avocado taste a little too much for me.

Preparation

• Remove the belly buttons from the avocados (okay, they really are just part of the stem, but they look like belly buttons) and cut the avocados in half: they do have pits, so be careful.
• Once halved, place the avocado with the pit down on a cutting surface, pit up. With a quick motion, strike the pit in the center with the knife, so that the blade embeds itself in the pit (Note: don’t do this with the avocado in your hand: an overripe avocado is as easy to cut through as jello). Turn the blade right or left and the pit should come right out. Repeat for the other avocado.
• Scoop the pulp out of the avocado shells into a bowl using a spoon, and discard the rines.
• Using the knife and spoon, cut the avocado into smaller pieces. Many recipes have you mash the avocados into a paste, but I like mine a little chunky, so I keep chopping until the pieces are small, but stop before it turns into a mashed mess.
• Add the lemon/lime juice: it’s really there to prevent the guacamole from losing its color more than anything, though it does add a little flavor. Mix it in.
• Add the cilantro and the salt: the measurements above are, of course, suggestions.
• Add the tomato and/or the green chile and mix once again.
• Finally, poor the whole thing into a bowl, and cover it with plastic wrap: make sure the plastic wrap is on the surface of the guacamole: you want as little air as possible between the wrap and the dip (again, to keep the air from turning the avocado brown).

The typical serving suggestion for guacamole is some nice tortilla chips. I get the ones with lower salt content to prevent heart attacks. Plus, the baked tortilla chips allow the flavor the guacamole to shine through. It’s also great to use when making tacos or burritos, and can even liven up a hamburger.

It usually keeps for a few days when properly wrapped and refrigerated. It will start turning brown, which can be a little off-putting, but it still will taste pretty good.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 1st, 2005 at 9:19 pm and is filed under Food and Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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