Kay’s Guacamole

This guacamole when made with perfect balance really pops!… in flavor and texture. Using ripe avocados is really key. Garlic, cilantro, spice, lime juice and seasoning really develop the flavor. The avocado cubes, tomatoes, red onion and tomatillo provide the texture.

The best part of guacamole is that it’s completely customizable. If you’ve previously had really smooth guac or really simple 3-ingredient guac…or with bacon or smoked…or… you can make it that way. In the book, “Guac Off,” there are at least 30 guacamole recipes and an endless assortment of twists to try!

Feel free to adjust this recipe and quantities of ingredients to your taste. You will see that the best way to make sure your guacamole comes out well is to incrementally build and taste it along the way. Happy stirring!

Ingredients

• 2 average-size/3-4″ in length, ripe Haas avocados, skinned and cubed
  Note: Any type of avocado can be used, except maybe one of those “skinny” varieties, though I’m sure it would be ok too just note you’ll end up with much more guacamole since they’re larger. I note Hass variety for size comparison and it’s what is typically available for me to use.
• 1-2 TB fresh cilantro, sliced (dried cannot be substituted in this case)
• 1-2 small firm & plump roma tomatoes, gutted of juice and medium-diced
• 1/2 medium red onion, medium-diced
• 1 medium-sized garlic clove (or to taste), minced
• Coarse kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper on hand (hereafter: seasoning)
• Pepper flakes or cayenne pepper or fresh, finely-diced jalapeno if available to taste
• 1 1-1.5″ tomatillo, diced (optional)
• Fresh lime or lemon juice, to taste (read about acid here)

Steps

1. Grab a medium-sized, glass bowl and gently stir together with a flexible spatula (that happens to be my favorite spatula for this) the avocado, cilantro, garlic, seasoning without mashing the cubed avocado too much. When stirring, scoop from the bottom and gingerly fold in.
2. Taste the guacamole to get a sense for the cilantro, garlic, seasoning and note if it’s too much, little, etc. so you know how to adjust later.
3. Gently fold in some of the tomatoes and red onion so there is a balance of both without it being too sparse or full of either vegetable, and without the quantity overcrowding the avocado.
4. Taste with the other ingredients. Adjust seasoning and ingredients for balance and to taste.
5. Add your pepper flakes (or cayenne or jalapeno) to taste and gently fold in.
6. If you have a tomatillo, gently fold in. Taste and adjust.
7. Squeeze in a conservative amount of lime or lemon juice to start. Fold in. Do a final taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.

Are your taste buds kicking? Thinking about how to make a meal out of this? Check out the side dishes I make for easy Mexican night dinner.