Recipe du Jour: Simple Guacamole

August 17th, 2013

Avocados are the bees’ knees. They’re so good, they practically don’t need anything else added to them. But combined with a few simple ingredients, whipping up a yummy & healthy guacamole is easy as pie.

Here’s what you’ll need for my go-to guacamole recipe. I eat this as a meal, so this recipe serves one. But if you’re serving it as a side dish, it can serve a few people.

1 avocado
1 small tomato (or 1/2 a large one)
a hunk of red onion
1/2 or 1 whole lime
a handful of cilantro (also known as coriander)
sea salt
black pepper
cumin (optional)

I can’t stress enough how important it is for the avocado to be perfectly ripe, because this will make or break the recipe. It should be a little soft to the touch, but free of bruises and brown spots on the inside.

Start by scoring it into cubes. If your avocado is ripe, the knife should glide through it like butter, without any resistance.

Once you’ve cubed both halves, scoop them out with a spoon.

Let’s all take a moment to gaze at this beautiful, perfect avocado. Resist the urge to eat it like this – it gets even better!

Squeeze your lime over the avocado right away, to prevent oxidation. You can replace the lime for lemon if that’s all you have around, but I much prefer the taste with lime.

I use the juice of half or one whole lime, depending on how much juice the lime yields. (And also how sour your like it – I like it very sour.)

Pro tip: roll the lime or lemon against the counter with your palm first, to make it easier to squeeze. (You’re welcome.)

Next, sprinkle your seasonings and spices on there. A pinch of sea salt, some freshly ground black pepper, and a little bit of ground cumin.

If you don’t have it, you can skip the cumin. The recipe is still delicious without it, but it does add a little more authenticity and flavor.

Now mash all that up with a fork. Again, this should be really easy if the avocado is ripe. If the cubes bounce off your fork like they’re made of rubber, you’ve taken a wrong turn.

Chop up the rest of your ingredients finely and add em to the avo mash.

Some guacamole recipes skip the tomato, but to me it’s essential. The juiciness of the tomato so wonderfully compliments the creaminess of the avocado. Also, it’s important that the ingredients are diced finely so that when you’re dipping, you get a little bit o’ everything in each bite.

Stir up that bad boy and serve!

If you’re feeling fancy like I was, transfer it into a smaller bowl and garnish with a leaf or two or cilantro. Ta-da!

You can eat this stuff solo with a spoon (and I have) or you could serve it with tortilla chips, veggie sticks, on toast, or beside salsa and sour cream for Mexican night.