Recipe :: Guacamole

When I have to pick a favorite food, it is always avocado. And an avocado has no higher calling than good guacamole. Here’s my favorite way to make it.

While the base of guacamole is the avocado, it begins with pico de gallo. This can be made ahead of time – even a day or more – which won’t hurt your end result at all. This is especially helpful since avocados themselves turn brown after they are cut. I’ll sometimes make more pico than I need for the guac I want at the moment, knowing I can make up more in smaller batches as needed for next couple of days.

Pico de Gallo
Tomato
Sweet onion
Cilantro
Lime
Salt

Guacamole = Pico + Avocado

Pico is the first step of great guac — Pico de gallo is the first step to great guacamole

The actual amounts depend on your personal taste. Do you love lime but aren’t so into cilantro? For the amount shown in the picture, I used two small tomatoes, slightly less than half of a small Vidalia (sweet) onion, half a bunch of cilantro, juice from one lime and about 1 teaspoon of sea salt.

Dice the tomatoes as finely as you can, discarding as much of the tomato juice & seeds as you can. Dice the onion as finely as you can. Chop the cilantro. Roll the lime on a counter before you cut it to make it easier to juice. Add salt. Mix and set aside or cover and refrigerate until you need it.

Again, the ratio of avocado to pico is up to personal taste. I used six avocados for this amount of pico.

The easiest way I’ve found to chop avocado is to cut them in half long way and then, holding a half in the palm of my hand, use a knife to cut a checker board & spoon out the cubes. This makes them easy to stir with a spoon (if the avocado is already pretty soft) or a fork (if the avocado is firmer).

Add pico to the cubed avocado and stir. Add based on your preference in taste and consistency. You may also need to add more lime or salt to taste.

Enjoy!!