The Guac

I wouldn't say I'm a picky eater.  I have a list of foods that should not ever touch my plate, but for the most part I'll consume anything to maintain my voluptuous figure.  One of the foods that made my "get that away from me" list for a VERY long time was guacamole.

I was coerced into trying the dip about 10 years ago.  I made the same face that I still make over raw tomatoes...but something snapped in my brain and I fell in love with guacamole!  Since then, it has become a necessary staple for any Tex-Mex meal that I order or prepare.  It has also made me a little partial to sandwiches dubbed "California style."

Guacamole became an obsession.  If it was on the menu, I'd order it and decide if it was better than the last bowl I'd eaten.  Then the light bulb came on:  I have to make my own guacamole.  And it has to be perfect!

My recipe begins with salsa.  And I don't mean a jar of Pace Picante.  I make my salsa semi-fresh in a food processor.  In addition to guacamole, I'm also pretty smitten with Chili's salsa.  So let's begin with that.



This cookbook will give you a pretty good imitation of Chili's salsa.  "Top Secret Restaurant Recipes 2" can be picked up in any major bookstore.  I found mine at Barnes & Noble.

The secret to this salsa is to use canned tomatoes instead of fresh.  It has been my experience that fresh tomatoes brown in the food processor, and for some reason this irks me.  As always, I adjust the recipe to my taste.  So here is what you'll need (and please excuse my messy countertops, it was a busy kitchen day!):

• One 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes. I tend to lean towards the tomatoes with chiles or green pepper/onion. 
• One whole onion, chopped--sweet onions are less overpowering
• One clove of garlic, sliced
• Three tablespoons jarred jalapeño slices, heaping!
• One tablespoon lime juice
• About 4 teaspoons of cumin...I don't measure things, we know this, but I'd like to point out that the Badia brand spices are SUPER cheap and taste as good as the expensive stuff!
• About 4 teaspoons of garlic salt...again, eyeball it

Throw all of that into the food processor and pulse until it's roughly together.  You don't want it too watery.
Pour the salsa into a tupperware container...in my case a wonton soup container.  Measure out about 1/4 cup of the salsa and put it BACK into the food processor and sprinkle it with cilantro flakes (fresh cilantro is SO much better, but I didn't have that available this time; if you have fresh cilantro, pulse it in with the salsa ingredients to begin with).



For the record, I accidentally added too much salsa and one of my avocados was a little darker than I had hoped...and I tried to compensate with extra sour cream.  So now, let's look at the actual guac ingredients.

• The 1/4 cup salsa still in the food processor
• 1/2 cup sour cream (I used the whole container, so it turned out pale)
• 2 avocados.  They can be Florida or Haas, doesn't really matter, but the bigger the better
• Another 1 tablespoon lime juice
• More garlic salt, love garlic salt (the cilantro flakes are shown, but we discussed that above)

Toss all of that into the food processor and pulse until it's to your desired consistency.  (Obligatory glass of sweet tea in the picture!)



Here is what you end up with...although hopefully a little greener.  This is also a double, maybe triple, batch because...I'm insatiable when it comes to guacamole.

Pour it into a pretty bowl and serve with chips!  And sweet tea!  Everyone needs sweet tea!