Guacamole

¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo! Like many of you, I've made guacamole lots of times. Well, I didn't actually make it as much as I approximated it. I used to mash up avocado and stir in some jarred salsa and call that guacamole (which is actually decent in a pinch). But then I made real guacamole, with some nice fresh ingredients. And yes, it's way better (what a shocker).

GUACAMOLE

Makes about 2 cups

2 ripe avocados (preferably California)

1/4 to 1/2 small red onion, finely minced

1 large clove garlic, minced and mashed to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon salt

5 teaspoons fresh lime juice, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced (or more to taste), optional

1 small ripe tomato, seeded and diced (optional)

Halve and pit the avocados and scoop the flesh into a bowl. Mash the avocados coarsely with a fork and stir in the remaining ingredients. Can be made 2 hours in advance; cover the surface with plastic wrap and keep chilled.

adapted from Gourmet, December 1990

chopped red onion

It's best to prep all your other ingredients before mashing the avocados (once 
the flesh is exposed to the air, oxidation starts and they begin to turn brown).

mashed garlic/salt (the purple specks are some red onion left behind)

Adding salt helps break down the garlic. Just use the edge of your
knife to smash the garlic and salt together across your cutting board.

cilantro

avocados

avocados halved

As you can see, my avocados were a little bruised.
I just removed the bruises (luckily I had a third avocado, so I was
able to piece together the equivalent of two good avocados).

avocado flesh in bowl

mashed avocado

all the ingredients added (I did add a little jalapeño, but no tomato)

all mixed (aka guacamole)

.