Summertime
This morning I helped Kam move some of her stuff over to her parents' amazing new house up in the hills. On the way up, I noticed that it's still summer weather around here, and sadly noted that I'd missed most of another summer—I've been inside most of most days, and for the fifth or sixth consecutive summer I've promised myself I'd make guacamole but haven't done it, and I keep thinking it would be nice to have some ice cream but then not getting any during the hot part of the day, and I'm not so interested in ice cream when it's cooler. And I'm sure the lack of ice cream and of guacamole is good for me, but still.
And then I went grocery shopping, and noticed that there were some perfectly ripe avocados sitting right next to some very nice cluster tomatoes, and so I bought some. And then I stopped at Rick's Rather Rich Ice Cream and got a vanilla cone—I normally prefer chocolate, but somehow vanilla feels cooler on a hot afternoon sometimes.
And I came home and made guacamole. Yum!
I almost never include recipes here, because I basically don't cook. But in case anyone's curious:
Jed's guacamole
(from a family recipe, no doubt, though I can't remember where I learned it)
- 3 largeish avocados, ripe but not over-ripe (almost-firm is best)
- 2 smallish tomatoes, vine-ripened to perfection (ideally home-grown); they should have that slightly wild sweet fresh tomato smell
- 1/2 small yellow onion
- Salsa (preferably hot; should probably be the thick sauce-like kind, not salsa fresca, yummy as salsa fresca is)
- Lemon juice
Mash the avocados together in a bowl with a fork. The pale green flesh should be firmish but yielding, neither solid nor mushy. It's okay to leave some semi-solid chunks of avocado (they'll mostly be broken up as you add other ingredients), but if there are any actual hard pieces of avocado, then the avocados weren't ripe enough.
Dice the tomatoes, into perhaps half-inch chunks. Mix them in with the avocados.
Chop the onion and mix it in as well.
Add some salsa. Stir. Taste. Add some more salsa. Add a little more salsa for good luck. Stir it all up.
Add a pinch or two of salt if you like, though I don't find it necessary (especially if there will be salted tortilla chips involved later).
Add just a bit of lemon juice to keep the avocado from turning brown.
Refrigerate if not ready to serve.
Serve with fresh sourdough bread, or with tortilla chips. Mmm.
I think one reason I don't make this so often is that I can find reasonable facsimiles more often than I used to be able to. That thin green soup they call guacamole at Taco Bell and the like does nothing for me, and too much other guacamole isn't spicy, consisting basically of mashed avocados (nothing wrong with that, just doesn't feel like guacamole to me). But the taqueria down the block from me has pretty good guacamole, though expensive, so it's easier to buy some when I want it than to make it.
But more fun to make it.
