Guacamole

A simple recipe that's more about getting the proportions right than anything else. The picture above is from a batch made with four fairly large avocados. It was enough for my contribution to a potluck with about twenty-five people. It's safe for just about everyone. As for those who swear that they just don't like guacamole, well, there's not much that's going to satisfy them.

Ingredients:
- Ripe avocados, peeled and broken up (Preferably the Hass type, they're dark when they're ripe. Others may work, but I haven't tried them.)
- Plum tomatoes, diced (Really should use plum, as opposed to other, tomatoes here.)
- Red onion, finely diced
- Chile pepper, very finely diced (Jalapeno is classic.)
- Cilantro, chopped
- Lime
- Salt and pepper
Method:
- Squeeze some lemon and lime juice in the bowl that will hold all the ingredients
- Add chunks of peeled avocado to the juices and get the avocado pieces coated with the citrus juice (This will slow down discoloration.)
- Add salt and pepper to avocado and citrus juices
- Mash the avocado, salt and pepper, and citrus juices (I use two forks, but a potato masher would work well. Make sure to get it all smooth, because this is the only real chance to mush everything around. The salt helps the process.)
- Add a whole bunch of diced tomatoes, stirring them in as they are added (It's amazing how much tomato the avocado mixture can handle. Just add until it looks good to you.)
- Reseason with salt and pepper (Don't be shy with the salt, both avocados and tomatoes can handle a large amount of salt. It's shocking how much seasoning you can add.)
- Add diced red onion and stir that in (Again, even if you don't like onion, don't be shy with it here.)
- Now add the diced hot pepper and stir well
- Recheck seasoning (If something's off, this is a good time to fix it, i.e. adding additional lime juice or some more salt.)
- Finally, stir in chopped cilantro (Again, don't be shy with it.)

That's all there is to it. As you can see, there's a significant quantity of the non-avocado ingredients. They don't interfere so much as they complement the completed product, which is guacamole, not just squished avocado. Enjoy.

Versatility:
What's great about this recipe is that it can be a base for many others. Trade the avocado and tomato for mango, and it's a great mango salsa (Sure, that may have been cooler two years ago, but it's still good.). Swapping the avocado for some raw fish (like halibut or flounder), or shrimp, and/or scallops, and adding some extra lemon and lime juice, results a quality ceviche. Whatever you do with this recipe, if you do anything, it will go well with tortilla chips.