Journey to Guacamole

So everyone has a go-to guacamole recipe, right? Well today I thought I’d share mine along with the journey I took to find this and the secrets I picked up along the way…

My Aunt Carol in Miami makes the best guacamole ever! She can also just walk through her yard and pick avocados off the trees! She gave me her recipe and that started the beginning of my guac-making-journey.

First you will need these ingredients:

• 3 Avocados
• 3 Vine Ripe Tomatoes
• 1 Bunch Green Onions
• 1 Lime
• Sea Salt
• Cumin

What, no onion? No. No Cilantro? No. You don’t need them… you’ll see!

First slice up the avocados. When my husband and I took a cooking class (super fun date night, by the way) we learned to slice them like this for a salad, however the principle applies anytime you’re using avocado – so simple!

After slicing the avocado in half, remove the pit by pressing your knife into it, turning it one quarter and lifting your knife – presto the pit lifts right out! 

Now slice the avocado by holding it skin side down in one palm and using your knife to slice it right inside the skin.

Scoop out the slices and place them in the bowl. The secret to full flavored avocado – which is key in any good guacamole – is this tool:

My husband put this in my stocking one year... It’s from Williams Sonoma and it is an avocado masher. While I was reluctant to use it because I love chunky guacamole, once I tasted the flavor that it brought out of my avocados, I was sold! (If you don’t have this tool I am sure a regular potato masher will work as well!)

So go ahead and mash up your avocados.

Before

After

Next slice your tomatoes. This introduces my next trick – first quarter the tomatoes and then using your fingers remove all the tomato seeds and juices. I also learned this trick in cooking class when using tomatoes for a salsa. This will make your end result less runny and we all know runny guacamole does not sound, much less look good!

Quartered Tomatoes

Seedless Tomatoes

After removing the seeds and juice, slice the tomatoes into pieces and add them to the bowl. 

Next, sprinkle in some sea salt.  I like to add the sea salt after the tomatoes because I love salted tomatoes and sea salt helps to bring out their flavor!

Next, cut the green onion. I like to do very, very small pieces and I stop when I get to the white part. Add them to the bowl.

If you’re using a mixer, go ahead and turn it on the lowest speed and let these ingredients start to mix. While they are mixing, cut and squeeze your lime. The secret to getting the most out of your lime is to roll it before you cut it. When you roll it press down hard to loosen up the skin – you’ll get much more lime juice this way! Squeeze all that lime juice into your bowl.

You’ll probably need more sea salt after all that lime juice so have a taste and if your guac needs more salt, go ahead and add some more.  

Finally, the secret ingredient!  My secret weapon is …cumin. My husband had to take me all the way to the Virgin Islands for me to learn about this spice appearing in guacamole! Definitely tell your husband tonight that you need to go to St. Thomas soon… the food you prepare for him could depend on it! 

While Honey and I were eating at a fabulous café, Sun Dog, which was literally positioned in an alley between two buildings with only large umbrellas as their ceiling (island life!), we sampled their guacamole and I immediately said – this has cumin in it! Honey and I checked with the chef who confirmed they used cumin in their guac and WOW what a delicious touch!

Walking to the Sun Dog Cafe, St John

Having lunch at the Sun Dog - YUMM!!

So when we came home I made my guac and added the cumin and we loved it!

Add cumin to taste and mix all ingredients. 

So there you have it – my personal guacamole recipe and the journey we took together. Remember these three things when making guacamole:  MASH the avocado to bring out the flavor, REMOVE the tomato seeds and juice to so it won’t be runny, and ADD cumin to taste.

Then open a bag of chips, pop open a cold beverage and enjoy!