Guest in the Kitchen: Guacamole

My sister told me months ago that someone requested a recipe for guacamole and, since then, I’ve been trying to get a post on that for you. I really have, but something always seems to happen that halts the process – I run out of an ingredient (that happened a couple times), I run out of time (uh, that happened a couple times too), or the avocados didn’t cooperate and were either too ripe or not ripe enough.

Well, once again, I bought the ingredients for guacamole intending to blog about it and, once again, ran out of time. This time though I had a brilliant idea. See, I have this brother that makes some of the best guacamole ever and he just happens to be a photographer and it just so happened that he was home last night. Yes!

“Jer!”, I yelled up the stairs (We don’t have intercom…although I guess we do have cell phones…yelling is still more convenient.) “Would you do me a favor?”

Jeremy likes making guacamole and he likes taking pictures and he likes doing nice things for people, so, thanks to Jeremy, I present to you his version of some of the best guacamole you will ever taste.

All guacamole photos taken by Jeremy. Check out more of his work on his website Clear Angle Photography or his Facebook page. He also does web design, in case you’re looking for someone.

Cube the avocado. This will result in a chunkier guacamole that doesn’t have that mashed texture. No one likes mashed texture, right? The word mashed is just unappealing.

Add the salt. Sea salt for that extra boost of minerals, plus, it just tastes better.

Chop and drain tomatoes.

He uses a serious knife, did you notice?

Chop cilantro, green onion, and jalapeno.

And add to avocado.

Squeeze on the lime juice.

Mix with a big spoon just until combined.

Taste.

Sigh with bliss and taste again….and again. Go ahead, this stuff is SO good for you!

Here’s the recipe to follow –

• 9 avocados (We figure 1/2 – 1 per person + one or two for good measure. :) ), cubed
• 2 t. sea salt
• 3 small to medium tomatoes, chopped and drained
• 1/2 c. cilantro, chopped
• 1/2 jalapeno, finely chopped (more if you like heat)
• 4 green onions, chopped
• juice of one lime

Feeds seven…of us.

I don’t know how you can get much more exciting than fresh guacamole, but I have to share my latest endeavor with you – homemade corn tortillas. (I apologize for the photos. Remember I ran out of time? So it was dark out. And I was using Jeremy’s camera, but for some reason it doesn’t behave for me like it does for him. After seeing his photos you’ll probably never come back to see mine again, huh? )

I never attempted corn tortillas before because I thought one needed a tortilla press and it sounded difficult to do without. But last night I tried it and, using the technique I’m going to share with you, I easily made corn tortillas that look store bought and taste great.

I used Bob’s REd Mill Golden Masa Harina and the recipe on the back, but I want to find masa harina that is made from organic corn to avoid GMOs. Anyone know where to get that?

So I started off making balls from the dough and rolling it out between two sheets of parchment paper. Here’s how that came out…

Not impressive.

After trying to use sheer strength (Jeremy aided in this department) to press the dough thin enough for a tortilla, we gave up on that. Finally, I rolled the dough out (again with parchment to keep from sticking) and used a plate to cut perfect circles. A lightly greased griddle cooked the tortillas with ease.

Let them rest a bit after cooking for them to gain elasticity.

Serve with guacamole, of course!

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