a peek inside the fishbowl

23 Jul, 2010

Holy Moly Guacamole: a recipe that might make you cry

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Recipes and Food

The girls slept over at their grandparents the other night and Mark went out with friends, leaving me flying solo. You know what I had for dinner? Tortilla chips and guacamole. I told Emma the next day and she didn’t quite believe that I didn’t make myself a well-balanced meal. In fact, I could see the wheels turning in her brain: So! Eating what you want for dinner is one of the benefits of being a grown-up!?

The short answer: YES.

The truth is, I really didn’t feel like cooking. What was the point? Besides avocados are one of the healthiest fruits you can eat! The health benefits of avocados are enormous. They are high in “good fat” and can help lower cholesterol.

So I turned to my favourite guacamole recipe. It’s a keeper. Guacamole is one of my favourite appetizers (disregard the fact that I was eating it for dinner). I serve it with tortilla chips, nachos, tacos and quesadillas too.

You will need:

1/4 red onion (or to taste)
1 firm, medium-size ripe tomato
2 ripe avocados
1 fresh jalapeno pepper (I just used half of one because that’s all I had)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (optional – not everyone likes cilantro. I LURVE IT. And it will make your guacamole taste more sophisticated.)
juice of 1/2 fresh lime
tiny pinch of sea salt

 

guacamole recipe: the ingredients!

Grab a bowl. Using the course side of your grater, grate the onion and the tomato right into the bowl. Discard the last bit of tomato skin in your hand. I don’t want to be responsible for grated fingers.

Leave some of the accumulated juice. Good guacamole is not too thick, not too thin either. It’s a mighty fine balance.

guacamole recipe 

Grate the jalapeno into this mixture too. WARNING: It’s best to  wear gloves (a plastic produce bag over your hand works too) and do not under any circumstances let the jalapeno juice come in contact with your eyes/lips or any other kind of soft tissue. TRUST ME.

guacamole recipe

Slice the avocado in half, and separate. Behold its beauty before you go any further:

Avocado

Remove the pit and scoop out the innards with a small spoon. Using a fork or a potato masher, mash avocado into the tomato/onion/jalapeno mixture.

guacamole recipe - the mashing stage

Take your 1/2 lime and, using your bare hands, squeeze the juice straight into the bowl. (Skip the juicer, this is more fun. And your kitchen will smell nice. Get your fingers right in there. You’ll end up with a tablespoon or so of juice.) Discard peel.

Add cilantro.

 guacamole recipe: cilantro

Mix with spoon. Decorate with cilantro that you did NOT find on the floor.

It’s not pretty, is it, but it’s GOOD.

guacamole !

Cover (you should put plastic wrap directly on top) and pop it in the fridge to let the flavours meld. (I was only able to wait 10 minutes. It was too close to dinnertime.)

Whether you’re serving it with tortilla chips or tacos, make sure there’s a beer somewhere around, because for some reason guacamole and beer go really well together.

I picked up these really good (and patriotic!) white and red corn tortilla chips at Produce Depot on Carling! Yum.

Ole!

It was so.good. (By the way, Mark had some too, so please don’t think I ate the whole bowl.)

Let me know if you tried this recipe!


14 Responses to "Holy Moly Guacamole: a recipe that might make you cry"

1 | bushidoka

July 23rd, 2010 at 9:03 am

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That can be a healthy meal if you use baked chips. I often do something similar only with home made refried beans. Either use the chips for dipping, or better yet, make a taco salad with the chips on the bottom! Guac would be a great addition to such a salad.

We must be on the same wavelength or something because 2 days ago I finally made some videos of making my refried beans :-)

2 | Betsy Mae

July 23rd, 2010 at 9:18 am

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I love guacamole and avacados, unless of course I’ve recently gorged myself on guacamole and/or avacados! I tend to do that, get a craving for one or both and then I eat so much of it that I can’t touch either for a while!

BTW, I love cilantro…I know it’s a love/hate kind of flavour but for me I really, really, love it. So fresh.

TIP I know I’ve shared this tip on my blog before but thought I would share again with your readers:
If you don’t like the grit that is often on things like cilantro (or parsley, strawberries, asparagus etc) then wash them in the sink with water and a bit of salt. Just fill your sink and sprinkle a tsp or so of salt (any kind works) and the grit is drawn right out of the produce.

3 | Scatteredmom

July 23rd, 2010 at 10:04 am

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I will try this for SURE. We love guacamole! ONly thing is that sometimes it makes my mouth itchy.

I love cilantro too. If a recipe has cilantro, lime, mango, and spice to it I’m ALWAYS in.

4 | andrea

July 23rd, 2010 at 10:14 am

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Me too. Cilantro, mango, lime is the triumvirate of flavours!

5 | Sherry

July 23rd, 2010 at 10:56 am

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For some reason I’ve developed (in the past 3-4 years) a mild allergy to avocados. Eating one makes my throat very itchy. Apparently it’s not the kind of allergy that can suddenly become life-threatening so I put up with the itch factor. Melons give me the same problem and I just don’t bother to eat them but I can’t give up avocados. Mmm.

6 | bushidoka

July 23rd, 2010 at 11:33 am

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Cilantro is EXACTLY what is missing from my refried beans!

7 | Julie

July 23rd, 2010 at 4:18 pm

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I never thought of grating the ingredients… I always chop. Thanks for the idea. I think the flavours will blend better that way. Also good in guacamole: pomogranite seeds. Yum.

8 | bushidoka

July 23rd, 2010 at 7:02 pm

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A mini-chopper food processor is even easier than grating

9 | andrea

July 23rd, 2010 at 9:25 pm

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Julie: pomegranate seeds? I’m willing to try it … !

bushidoka: you might be right, but sometimes it’s easier just to grate something and give the grater a rinse afterwards. Assembling>taking apart> cleaning choppers is tiresome for me. :)

11 | Carla

July 26th, 2010 at 9:39 am

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We are avocado people. Our guatemalan recipe involves olive oil, dried oregano, lime juice, chopped onion and that is it. good and yummy taste of home.

One good tip is that if you are not going to eat your avocado right away, you can prevent it from browning by cutting/mashing with a wood implement, or plastic if you must, but not metal, and also keeping the pit in the guacamol.

12 | charles

July 26th, 2010 at 10:14 am

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Try adding 1 Tbs of toasted /ground 50/50 mix of cumin and coriander seed along with a little minced garlic. Along with a good lighter coloured beer with a slice of lime makes a truly complete meal.

13 | andrea

July 26th, 2010 at 10:36 am

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Carla and Charles: Sounds delicious!

I would love to hear other people’s favourite guacamole recipes. If you have one, please consider sharing it!

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My name is Andrea and I live in the Westboro area of Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Piper who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. We also have two human offspring: Emma (23) and Sarah (21). During the day I work as a writer at The Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

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