My "famous" Guacamole

I really love to entertain people at our home. I mostly host parties with appetizers and drinks, although I have been fine tuning my "dinner parties" as well. I am an extremely social person so I don't like to be stuck in the kitchen preparing food while my guests are at the house. I tend to prepare most items ahead of time and have them all out to munch on so that I can enjoy the party with my guests. One of my staple prepare-ahead-of-time-foods is guacamole. I make it so often people have come to expect it at a get together at our home. My cousin came to visit with his wife from Portland, Oregon and I made fish tacos for dinner. What better to serve that with than my "famous" guacamole. For a while I wasn't giving out my "secret ingredients" but I was getting asked about my recipe so often, I decided to be flattered instead of secretive about it.

So consider yourself lucky that I'm sharing my recipe, ha! :-)

I usually don't measure out my ingredients when making this guacamole. I have made it so many times I know when it's good by a quick taste or consistency. I measured things out this time around to be able to post the recipe. But with all recipes, feel free to add more of the things you like and less of what you don't!

I always consider my crowd when adding the jalapeño pepper and red hot sauce - more for those I know can handle it, less for those that can't or if I know kiddos will be eating it. Have you heard that Midwesterners, specifically Minnesotans can't handle spice? I've heard the joke that ketchup is considered a spice in Minnesota! I'm not one of those people - I can handle the non-ketchup kind of spice! :-)

I base the amount of my ingredients for this guacamole based on the number of avocados I'm going to use. I base the number of avocados I'm going to use on the amount of people I'm serving. For this batch I was making it for 6 people + a couple toddlers sneaking bites!

Ingredients (missing garlic)

Begin by chopping the cherry tomatoes. Depending on their size I usually cut them in half then quarter each half. I prefer cherry tomatoes because I like that they are firm after cut into eighths. I like my guacamole chunky! 

Halve cherry tomatoes, then quarter each half

Dice red onion - Have you ever wondered why they call it red onion when it's clearly purple?!?!

Diced red onion

Using rubber gloves chop the jalapeño and garlic. Roughly chop cilantro. 

Mix together tomatoes, onions, jalapeño, garlic & cilantro in a container you can close tightly. Squeeze the juice from one lime over the tomato mixture. Stir well, cover and refrigerate for a hour or overnight. I usually make the guacamole this far the night before. That way before I'm serving it I don't have the mess in my kitchen of all the chopping. I like how the guacamole tastes with these veggies marinating in the lime juice! 

Veggies marinating in lime juice

Just prior to serving cut up avocados. I forgot to take a picture of myself cutting the avocados. I found this picture from ourbestbites.com on how I cut them. First run your knife around the avocado the long way. Remove the pit. Slice into the avocado making a checker board look. Then spoon out into a large bowl. Repeat with each half of the avocados.

How to cut an avocado by ourbestbites.com

Mash the avocados to desired consistency. I always like to leave it a bit chunky. 

Stir in marinated tomato mixture. Add tablespoon of worcestershire sauce. This is my secret ingredient - I like how it gives the dip a smokey flavor. Depending upon how spicy I want the dip or how spicy the jalapeño is I'll had 3-4 dashes of red hot sauce. Add a pinch or two of salt and pepper to taste. I usually don't add too much salt even if it tastes like it needs it - tortilla chips have enough salt on them! Stir well and serve with tortilla chips! Enjoy!


Guacamole Recipe

Ingredients

1 cup cherry tomatoes (halved or quartered)
3/4 cup diced red onion
1 medium sized jalapeno pepper (seeds removed from all or half depending on spice level desired)
2 garlic cloves - minced
juice of one lime
3 ripe avocados
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
3-4 dashes of red hot sauce (more or less depending on taste)
salt & pepper to taste

Begin by chopping the cherry tomatoes. Depending on their size I usually cut them in half then quarter each half. Using rubber gloves chop the jalapeño and garlic. Roughly chop cilantro. 

Mix together tomatoes, onions, jalapeño, garlic & cilantro in a container you can close tightly. Squeeze the juice from one lime over the tomato mixture. Stir well, cover and refrigerate for a hour or up to overnight. Just prior to serving cut up avocados. Mash the avocados to desired consistency.

Stir in marinated tomato mixture. Add tablespoon of worcestershire sauce. Depending upon how spicy I want the dip or how spicy the jalapeño is I'll had 3-4 dashes of red hot sauce. Add a pinch or two of salt and pepper to taste. I usually don't add too much salt even if it tastes like it needs it - tortilla chips have enough salt on them! 

Stir well and serve with tortilla chips! Enjoy!

Do you have a dish that you consider your "famous" or "signature" one? Do you share the recipe?