Guaca-A-Mol-AY!!
By Benjy Lipsman in Food on Jan 31, 2008 2:55PM
We are now just days away from that day which rivals Thanksgiving as few can in the annals of American gluttony: Super Bowl Sunday. Whether we're parked on a couch in front of our friend's new 60 inch plasma TV or watching the game at a sports bar that's stumbling distance from home, the food and drink often take precedence over the game itself - especially when our Bears aren't in it this year.
Chicagoist has been attending the same Super Bowl party for a number of years now, and we've become known to those who attend for one of our contributions to the vast spread. No proper Super Bowl smörgåsbord is complete without guacamole! Ours gets prepared by special request each Super Bowl Sunday morning. While we suspect most of you won't be attending the same party, that doesn't mean you won't be able to enjoy our guacamole. We'll share with you how we make a bowl so good it'll be devoured before kickoff.
We first must gather the ingredients. A trip to a Mexican grocery is your best bet to find all the ingredients you need -- and not go broke in the process. It's a good idea to go a couple days before making the guac because the typical choice of avocados is rock hard or mush. By shopping ahead, you can buy firm ones and allow them to ripen.
What You Need
6 avocados
1 large red onion or 2 smaller ones
2 Roma tomatoes
2-4 serrano peppers
garlic
cilantro
1 lime
kosher salt
ground pepper
After washing all the veggies, we first dice the tomatoes, carefully removing the seeds and pulp. Next, we dice the onion. To give the guac an even heat, we mince the fiery serranos pretty finely. We use our garlic press to mince the garlic, and chop up a good amount of cilantro.
Only now do we cut open the avocados, slicing around from top to bottom and pulling apart the halves. Remove the pit -- but important -- save at least a few of them! Added to the end result they help keep it from turning brown. Scoop the avocado flesh into a large bowl and mash with a fork into large chunks. We don't have set measurements for adding the rest of the ingredients -- we just eyeball it and adjust to taste and sight. We typically start with half of each ingredient and then adjust as necessary.
It's really all about personal preference anyway. We don't like the tomato to overpower the avocado, so we tend to go light on them. But we like a spicier dip, so we may add more of the serranos than you might. Some don't like cilantro, others do. That's one of the beauties of guacamole -- there's no one way to make it.
After adding the diced and minced ingredients, add salt and pepper to season and squeeze the juice of lime into the bowl. Mix to incorporate all of the ingredients while leaving nice chunks of avocado.
Add back in a couple of the pits and transfer into the serving bowl. Cover with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the top of the guacamole until serving time. And don't be surprised when you're asked to bring your creamy, green concoction again next year!
Photo Courtesy of the Hass Avocado Board