Guacamole for Dummies

What is better than a soft, ripe avocado?  Okay, I can think of a few things, but I'm not listing them here!  I love this delicious fruit (yes, fruit) sliced on a sandwich or topping a salad.  But the tastiest way to eat an avocado (in my not-so-humble opinion), is in guacamole.  I even like the way the word sounds, 'guac-a-mo-le'.  It just rolls off the tongue.

I had a predicament on Saturday.  I had three beautiful, soft, ripe, perfect California avocados that were screaming "GUACAMOLE!"  They wanted it, they needed it.  I wanted it, I needed it.  The problem was, I couldn't find a recipe that I trusted.  I had facebooked (is that a word?) my sister for her recipe.  She is renowned for her amazing guacamole, at least in our family.  I didn't hear back from her.  Was she avoiding me?  A dear friend saw my plight and came to my rescue.

Little did I know, Cristina has a food blog.  This is where the problems began.  I was really hungry when I entered her site.  Everything looked so delicious.  I got the guacamole recipe but then I saw the salsa rojo recipe.  Well, if we're going to have homemade guacamole, we need to have homemade salsa, right?

I knew you would agree.  I was all set and ready to leave her site when I caught a glimpse of the Bisteck Picado - be still my heart!

By this time, I was ravenous and I...must...have that spicy meat to go with my salsa and my guacamole.  So, with the three recipes in hand, I approached the cook in the family.  I batted my eyes and showed him the pictures on Cristina's site.  He was hooked.  I don't know if it was me, or his growling stomach, but off he went to our local Mexican market for the chilies, flap steak and other ingredients.

I am not exaggerating when I say, this was one of the best meals I have eaten in a while.  The guacamole was delish.  Steve tweaked it a little, cause that's what he does.  The salsa was scrumptious and, thankfully, made a large quantity.  But, the star of the show was the Bisteck Picado.  It was off the hook!

Now that you are drooling and thinking of racing out the door to your nearest Mexican food establishment, I will share with you our version of Cristina's amazing guacamole.  For the salsa and bisteck recipes, you can visit her site, Vengan a Comer (Come and Eat!)

Guacamole Ingredients

2 California avocados (no bias, they're just the best!)
2 small tomatoes
2 green onions
1/4 bunch of cilantro
garlic powder
salt
1 lime
hot sauce

Here are the assembled ingredients so you can see the amounts.  I didn't picture the lime or hot sauce because Steve decided to add them at the end (he just can't resist that hot sauce).  If your avocados are not ripe, put them in a dark place for two days.  This is called delayed gratification.  Once they're ripe keep them in the fridge to halt further ripening.

To remove the pit easily.  slice length-wise around the avocado, all the way to the pit. 

Smack that knife into the pit and pull it out - voila!

Get a spoon and scoop out the buttery avocado.

Mash it well.  It should be creamy, not too chunky.  This way it will stick to a tortilla chip - Yum!  Add the garlic powder and a pinch of salt.

Dice the tomatoes (we used Roma tomatoes - firm and not too seedy).

Finely dice the green onions.  These are not finely diced, but Steve likes them chunkier and Steve's the cook, so I don't complain.

Cut the stems off the cilantro and finely chop.  I love cilantro but it's not everybody's cup of tea, so if you don't care for it, leave it out (so sad).

Just look at this for a while.  Such colorful, fresh ingredients.  This is good food.
Okay, now that you're through looking, stir well.

Get a tortilla chip, or a spoon and taste.  Steve thought it needed a squeeze of lime and Louisiana hot sauce so he made his final adjustments and... oh, mama!  This was good.

Here's the cutest chef in Orange County.  Tasting the fruits of his labor.

Que aproveche!  (Bon appetit!)


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