Guacamole

Recipe Review- Fresh Made Guacamole- My favorite! Put it on your taco, burrito, or just gobble it up on chips

One of the best parts of living in Southern California is the overwhelming prevalence of avocados in daily life. We put avocados on our omelette's, sandwiches, sushi, I've evn had tempura fried avocados, and obviously tons of avocados go into the Guacamole we eat with the delicious Mexican food that omnipresent. Ever since I moved here I've been trying to make the perfect guacamole. It turns out different every time, but I seem to have worked out a general idea of what makes it how I like.

Guacamole

yield: guacamole for 4

4 ripe avocados

2 vine ripe tomatoes- seeded

3 cloves of garlic- minced

1/2 cup of red onion- diced

1/3 cup of fresh cilantro- diced

the juice from one lime

fresh ground salt & pepper

hot sauce to taste

optional

1 jalapeno or serrano pepper- seeded an finely minced

diced red bell pepper

Halve avocados and remove skins (Usually I used a spoon to scoop out the avocado, but sometimes the skins can be peeled off) Coarsely chop and reserve in medium sized bowl.

Prepare remaining ingredients and add into the avocados. (I like to save a little bit of each ingredient so that you can tweak the guacamole to adjust the flavors.) Stir until combined with avocado. Serve immediately or if you have the time, let it sit in the fridge for 30-45 minutes and the flavors will mix better.

Avocados oxidize and turn brown rather quickly- if you want to try to save leftovers, or make it a few hours ahead add in a tablespoon of olive oil. Also if you have left over tomatoes you can put slices over the top of guacamole- this will help too.

printable recipe

Now guacamole is all about personal tastes. I like it a a little chunky, so I just roughly chop the avocados, but if you wanted it to be smoother you could mash the avocados with a fork before mixing in the other ingredients. I also like it a little spicy so I put a fair amount of hot sauce and peppers into the guac- but you could leave them out completely for a milder flavor. Jalapenos have a more upfront spiciness, serranos build heat.

All of the chopping can be a bit of a pain- but its really worth it. I love love love good guacamole, and Mexican food in general. This is probably my favorite appetizer to make for a get together. This time I washed it down with a Skinnygirl Margarita. They finally made it out to San Diego- it took forever!! I had been waiting quite a while to try them and I loved it! (I loved a drink with tequila in it... big surprise!)