Recipe for Guacamole

Welcome to the second recipe in my eight-part series on Mexican cooking. (See the first installment here). This week we're talking about guacamole.

The key to a good guacamole lies in the produce. This begins with the avocados. When avocados are ripe, they give a little when you push on them. If they are rock hard, they need more time to ripen. And if they are mushy, they are past their prime.

If you have avocados that you want to ripen quickly, you can put them in a brown paper bag with an apple and they will ripen faster (or do what our vicar did and put them in a paper bag with a smashed apple. They'll be ready in no time!)

To make guacamole, I follow a recipe given to me by friends here a few years ago. It uses the following ingredients:

- 4 avocados
- 2 tomatoes
- 1 jalapeño pepper
- one quarter of a small onion
- salt to taste


Start by slicing the avocados in half the long way, cutting around the pit, like this:


Then dig out the avocado with a spoon, removing it from the skin. Place it in a bowl. Repeat this for the other three avocados. Using a fork, mash them up in the bowl. With perfectly ripe avocados, this will be easy. Their texture will resemble mashed potatoes:


Next, finely chop the tomatoes, removing the seeds as you do so. Chop the onion. Add the two ingredients to the mashed avocado mixture.

For the jalapeño, you can greatly reduce its heat by removing the seeds. To do so, slice the pepper in half. Cut out the veins and dig out the seeds. Chop up the remaining pepper and add it to the mixture, like so:


Stir everything together and add salt to taste. Pull out the tortilla chips and you're ready for a fun Mexican snack!


A couple of notes:
- to make the best guacamole, you'll need a taste tester. In our house, that's Mike. When I have the dip made, I call him in and he takes a bite. He either gives it the ok, or asks for more of something (salt, tomato, etc). Since the size of the veggies can vary greatly, and individual tastes differ, you may find you like a variation of this recipe better. I use this recipe as a base and then change it up, according to Mike's preferences.

- guacamole can turn brown fast, especially in warm weather. It's best to make it up right before serving time. To make it last longer, you can sprinkle a little lime juice on top of the dish. You can also save the avocado pits and put them right in with the guacamole, as they'll help keep the mixture green longer.