Guacamole

Ah, the avocado.  Just one more of those foods I didn’t used to like.  What was I thinking!? Smooth, buttery avocado goes on nearly everything from sandwiches to adorning your favorite enchiladas.  But, for me, the best application of the avocado is the most famous–guacamole.

I re-tried avocados (well, guacamole) relatively recently.  A few years  back I was in Whole Foods and they had samples of chips and guacamole.  So I tried some.  And then I tried some more.  I couldn’t believe how much I loved it.  And for the record, I still think Whole Foods makes some delicious guacamole.

Guacamole is ridiculously easy & quick to make, as long as your avocado is ripe.  (If you want your avocados to ripen a little more quickly, put them in a paper bag at room temp.)  I personally prefer a chunky guacamole with tomatoes in it, but of course you can omit those from the recipe below if you are one of those crazy tomato-haters! 🙂 This doesn’t make a huge batch of guacamole so if you’re trying to serve more than a few people, you should definitely double it.  We used it to top some Tex-Mex burgers (in place of the chipotle ketchup) and it was a good amount for 4 burgers (or 2 burgers with a little left over for some tortilla chips).

Guacamole

Printer Friendly Recipe

1 ripe avocado
1/4 cup minced onion (preferably red but use what you have)
1/2 – 1  jalapeño (depending how spicy you want it), seeds and ribs removed, minced
1 clove garlic, finely minced or pressed
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup seeded and diced tomatoes
juice of half a lime
salt and pepper

Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit (I like to whap my knife against it and then pull it right out).  Scoop the avocado out and into a bowl.  Mash it with a fork and then add the onion, jalapeño, and garlic and mash a little more (to your desired consistency).  Stir in the cilantro, tomatoes, lime, and salt and pepper to taste.