Guacamole

Guacamole is one of the first things I ever learned to make.  Half an avocado, some lemon juice, chopped tomatoes, garlic salt, and exactly two drops of Tabasco sauce.  Three, if you really wanted to walk on the wild side.  My mother and I would sit down with the bowl between us and watch I Dream of Jeannie or Bewitched or That Girl until every scrap was gone.  It was one of my favorite things to eat then, and it still holds a special place in both my heart and my stomach.  Guacamole is like other things – when it’s great, it’s REALLY great…and even when it’s not so great, it’s still pretty good.

This may be, in my opinion, the best guacamole ever.  The recipe’s changed a bit from my childhood, and these days it’s more likely to be Phineas and Ferb than Samantha and Darrin (although we do have the Bewitched box set, and the boys do love it).  When Trevor came to see if he could help make dinner the other night, I seized the opportunity to pass on the family guacamole-making tradition.  I can’t wait to see what he’ll do with the recipe.

Ingredients 

• 2 large Haas avocados (you can easily double or even triple this recipe if you don’t want to hear, “what happened to all the guacamole?!?” five minutes after you’ve finished making it)
• Juice of one lime
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed
• 1 green onion, green and white parts, chopped fine
• About 5 cherry tomatoes, chopped fine
• Garlic salt (yes, I know it has garlic in it already.  No, you can’t just use regular salt – it won’t taste the same.)
• A spoonful (to taste) of a really good salsa.  We swear by Mrs. Renfro’s medium in our house (in fact, it sends Trevor into paroxysms of joy…“I LOVE this stuff,” he murmurs over the jar, very nearly rolling his eyes and collapsing on the kitchen floor with the ecstasy of it all), but your favorite kind will do. 
• Your favorite tortilla chips for dipping.  Or carrot sticks if you’re being virtuous.  Or both, if you’re doing that angel-on-one-shoulder, devil-on-the-other thing.

Press the garlic into a bowl and add the lime juice and green onion.  Put the avocados on top and mash them (tip that perhaps everyone knows but me – if the avocados aren’t quiiiiiite ripe enough, use the potato masher instead of a fork).  Add the other ingredients and stir well.  Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.  Taste again.  And one more time to be sure it’s all right to feed to other people…