In the past five days, MJ and I have eaten three batches of guacamole between the two of us. We.Can’t.Stop. And we can’t stop talking about how great it tastes. It started during a grocery store run over the weekend, the display promoting homemade guacamole for Cinco de Mayo caught my eye. I saw the pile of avocados and thought they looked appetizing. MJ agreed. We didn’t have a recipe but made it up of things we thought sounded good. When we got home, we threw together the avocados with garlic, lime juice, onions, tomatoes, salt and hot sauce. It was gone in a flash.
After the first batch, we schemed what else would be good to add in. We agreed it was missing cilantro, maybe jalapenos. Then I brought up feta. I thought the salty, tangy taste would pair well. We loved it.
I brought up our current food obsession to my mom and she shared her go-to recipe from Joy of Cooking. It mirrored what we had done and included ingredient amounts – I know some cooks aren’t comfortable with just throwing things together willy nilly. But it’s just a guide, not law. The great thing about making one’s own guacamole is it can be made exactly how it is desired. Like more lime juice, cilantro and garlic but less tomatoes, salt and no jalapenos? Done. Want more salt, tomatoes and garlic? And what about two jalapenos? For sure! It’s made by the cook, tasted by the cook in order to please the cook. The only bit of advice I would share would be to hold back on tossing in the full amount of any of the ingredients until you’ve tasted it. More can be added but it is hard to remove.
One problem with impulsively buying avocados for guacamole is that they are often not ripe enough right when purchased. That’s what happened to us anyway. After a little investigating, I packed our avocados into a brown paper sack with a tomato and they were ready the next day. Now we have a small pile just waiting for the next batch.
Recipe from Joy of Cooking - Can be served as a dip with chips or raw veggies, or a topping for tacos and sandwiches.
Ingredients
- 4 medium ripe avocados
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice, or to taste
- ¼ cup finely chopped onion or thinly sliced scallions
- ¼ cup cilantro or parsley
- 1 to 2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and minced
- 1 Tbsp finely minced garlic
- 1 to 2 dashes hot pepper sauce
- ½ - ¾ tsp salt
- ½ - 1 cup finely diced tomatoes with seeds removed
- 4 - 8oz crumbled feta cheese
- Optional: 2 T. extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Peel and pit the avocados and place in a bowl. Use a fork to mash them into a coarse consistency.
- Add in the preferred add ins.
- Taste and adjust seasonings, more of one ingredient might be needed.
- When it's perfect, gently stir in the tomatoes if so desired.
- Serve at room temperature.
Take care.
Hi Amy! I was in the Alt class Monday night and just wanted to stop by and say hello :) This guacamole looks so delicious, I usually just make it with garlic salt and some onions so I’m going to have to try this soon!
Yum, sounds delicious – I’ll have to try it!
Try using cotija cheese instead of feta & adding a teaspoon of ground cumin. Cotija is a tangy Mexican cheese, kind of like a Mexican version of feta. Really, really great in guac. The cumin adds a fabulous underlying flavor that takes this amazing concoction to the next level!