Guacamole

I am very picky about my guacamole.  In fact, I refused to eat guacamole until I went to a Mexican restaurant that made it tableside.  I'm very skeptical about the stuff you buy in the grocery store because I'm not sure why it's still green.  Anytime I've ever seen an avocado that touched the air for more than 10 minutes it was brown.  What the heck do they put in there to keep it green?  Wait, don't tell me.

To me guacamole must be made no less than 15 minutes before I eat it.  The avocado must be chunky, not totally mushed up into baby food consistency.  It must have a few tomatoes in it, but not too many.  It must have some spice to it.  Let's just make it easy and say that it must be this guacamole - I'm rather skeptical of all others... except that for some strange reason I do like Wholly Guacamole which comes in those little pouches.  I can somehow convince myself that the pouch keeps away the brown and not 9,000 chemicals and green food coloring.

CA will eat any guacamole, anywhere, anytime.  He's not picky.  That man loves his Mexican food.

The recipe is really quite simple, as it should be.  I use a mortar and pestle to grind up the onions, salt, cilantro and jalapeno in this recipe because we don't have a molcajete (Google it).  I've been tempted to get one even though I'm generally against single use kitchen supplies.  I'm sure someday I'll have a theme party and convince myself that it's necessary but until then we make do with the mortar and pestle.

Once you've ground up the base, in go chunks of avocado, a few tomatoes and more onions, cilantro, jalapeno and salt.

I'm always surprised by how much salt you need to put in guacamole to make it taste right, especially considering that the vehicle to get it into your mouth is a salty chip.

I really do love this stuff and it changed my life when I finally found a guacamole I liked (that's quite dramatic, it just changed my guacamole eating experiences).  Avocados are so good for you!  Although, I'm sure in the quantities I consume them and with the number of chips that accompany it, it takes away some of the health benefits.  No matter.

Guacamole
Recipe courtesy of Saveur

Ingredients
2 T finely chopped White Onion
1 Jalapeno, seeded and minced
3 T finely chopped Cilantro
Salt
3 Avocados
1 small Tomato, diced

Instructions
Grind half the onions, half the jalapeño, and half the cilantro and 1/2 tsp of salt in a mortar (if you don't have a mortar you can mash it well with a fork). Transfer to a serving bowl.

Cut the avocados in half lengthwise, then remove and discard pit. Make crosshatch incisions in avocado pulp with a paring knife. Scoop pulp out with a spoon, then add to the onion mixture.

Stir in remaining onions, jalapeño, and cilantro, then gently mix in tomatoes. Adjust seasoning with salt and serve immediately.

Enjoy!
Julie