How to Make Guacamole

Guacamole – avocado-based dip originated in Mexico (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Guacamole is one of my favorite dips to make when guests come over or we just feel like snacking on the weekends, and I think I have perfected my recipe over time. I have posted my recipe for guacamole here before, so in this post, I’ll share some tips I have learned about making a truly great guacamole. Bonus: It’s really easy to make, too!

Guacamole is truly at its best when it is kept very simple, so the flavor of the avocado can shine through. It does not need fillers like sour cream or cream cheese. What it does require are perfectly ripe avocados. Plan on using 1 avocado for every 2-3 diners.

When shopping for avocados, look for those that have a darker green skin, almost black. Squeeze the avocado gently. A ripe avocado should give easily under the pressure, but it shouldn’t feel like you can completely squish it; by that time, it’s probably over-ripe and turning black inside. If you buy avocados that aren’t completely ripened, leave them out on the counter a few days and they will get softer over time. Only put them in the refrigerator when they reach the desired ripeness.

My guacamole recipe originally comes from Rick Bayless’s great cookbook Authentic Mexican. The number of ingredients are kept to a minimum, and there really is no way to improve on Bayless’s recipe, although you can make some substitutions if you like. This recipe serves 4-6 people.

First, chop 1 white onion as finely as you can and put it in a bowl. If you have a really ripe tomato, you may want to chop it and add it to the bowl as well, but it is certainly not necessary and should be omitted when tomatoes are not in season.

You will need 2 ripe avocados. Slice each avocado in half lengthwise, working your knife around the pit. Gently twist the two halves in opposite directions to separate them. Using a large spoon, scoop out the pits and reserve. Then scoop out the avocado flesh and add it to the bowl.

Using a potato masher, roughly mash the avocado with the onion. This is a great alternative use for what is usually a one-function tool. However, if you don’t have a potato masher, you can use a fork, although I don’t feel like it does as good a job. I like a creamy texture with just a little chunkiness.

Add a few drops of Jalapeno Tabasco sauce, 1 teaspoon salt or to taste, and the juice of 1 lime or to taste. I substitute the Tabasco sauce for jalapeno because I always have it on hand, but you can also use 1 jalapeno, finely chopped. Keep tasting your guacamole as you season it. Some avocados will need more help than others.

When you are done, bury the reserved avocado pits in the guacamole and cover the bowl with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap right against the top of the guacamole; this will help prevent browning. Let the flavors develop for a few minutes before serving with tortilla chips.

I do not add cilantro or garlic to my guacamole, but you may want to experiment by adding a few sprigs of cilantro, chopped well, or 1-2 minced garlic cloves. You can also substitute or add other chiles for the jalapeno, such as serrano chiles or even rehydrated chipotles, which will make the guacamole much spicier. For a milder guacamole, try roasting the chiles first.

Just remember that the secret to good guacamole are great avocados, plus onion, salt, lime juice and a little spice. As long as you have those components, you can make a really great guacamole any time.

Buffalo Chicken Strips with Blue Cheese Dip

Football season is upon us. I know because my husband disappears every Sunday afternoon and Monday night, giving me some much-needed alone time.  Ahhh, I love the autumn.

Kidding aside, these buffalo chicken strips are a great recipe find from Sara Foster’s Fresh Every Day, and they go perfectly with football games. You can even grill them at your next tailgate party. I like them because they’re a lot less trouble than wings but deliver the same taste, and they give me an excuse to make blue cheese dip. I would probably dip grasshoppers in blue cheese dip and eat them. (Well, only if they’re deep-fried.)

Buffalo Chicken Strips

Serves 4 to 6

• 4 tablespoons butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon hot sauce (Tabasco or Texas Pete)
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1½ pounds)
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• ½  teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• Chunky Blue Chese Dip (recipe follows or you could substitute leftover Blue Cheese Dressing)
• 2 celery stalks, halved and cut into 3-inch sticks

Preheat a grill or the broiler. Whisk the butter, oil, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper and paprika together in a small bowl. Cut the chicken breasts diagonally into ½-inch-wide strips and season with salt and pepper. Place the strips in a shallow dish or bowl, pour half the sauce over them, and toss to coat evenly.

Brush the grill or a baking pan lightly with oil. Place the chicken strips on the grill or in the pan and cook 2 to 3 minutes per side, until cooked through. Serve with the Chunky Blue Cheese Dip, the remaining wing sauce and the celery sticks.

Chunky Blue Cheese Dip

• ¼ cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• ½ teaspoon sea salt, plus more to taste
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
• 4 ounces crumbled blue cheese (about 1 cup)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

Stir the buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, ½ teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon pepper together. Stir in the blue cheese. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste and stir in the chives. Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 1 week.

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Blue Cheese Dressing

Image via Wikipedia

If it is possible to be in love with a salad dressing, then I am head over heels for blue cheese dressing. It is my decadent treat at home-style Italian restaurants and steakhouses. But it’s even better to make at home, because then you can ensure you get lots of blue cheese goodness, and you can eat the batch all week. This dressing not only works on salads — I recommend romaine hearts, croutons, tomatoes and bacon — but it also makes a good dip for crudites and chicken wings.

Blue Cheese Dressing

Makes about ¾ cup

• 2½ ounces blue cheese, crumbled (about ½ cup)
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk or substitute whole milk, if you must
• 3 tablespoons sour cream
• 2 tablespoons plain yogurt (you can also use mayonnaise, but I prefer yogurt)
• 2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ⅛ teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt and ground black pepper

Mash the blue cheese and buttermilk or milk together with a fork until the you’ve achieved the right crumbly-creamy texture to suit your tastes. Stir in the remaining ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 1 week.

A Simple Summer Dip

For my snack today, I made a quick dip filled with the flavors of summer. I ate it with cucumber slices, but it would also go well with any type of crudite (carrot sticks, peppers, squash) or with pita chips, I would think. It would probably also be an excellent salad dressing. Make sure to let it sit for an hour or two to let the flavors marry.

Tomato & Basil Dip

Please note: All measurements are approximate and should be done to taste.

Combine:

• ¾ cup sour cream
• ¼ cup plain yogurt
• 3-4 small roma tomatoes, minced
• 2-3 lg. basil leaves, sliced
• 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Refrigerate for an hour or two before serving.

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Spring Onions & Skordalia

If you have access to a farmers market, get over there and see if they are selling spring onions right now. Cut off the root ends and all but an inch or so of the green stalks. Then roast with some chicken. You will thank yourself.

On a different note, I tried making skordalia — a dip made from pureed bread and almonds. The recipe came from Mark Bittman’s Food Matters, but it was way too redolent of raw garlic. He suggested eating it with large beans such as edamame. We ended up just eating all the edamame plain, with a little salt. Edamame is a favorite and unexpected snack of my two-year-old. The two of us can kill a whole bag at snacktime.

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A Super-Simple Anchovy-Garlic Dipping Sauce for Chicken Wings (and Other Things)

I recently was moved to make chicken and dumplings, I think by the onset of fall and the fact that my husband was sick. When I make homemade chicken stock, I usually use chicken wings, and this recipe also called for using wings for the soup base. I usually cook stock until the wings practically dissolve (except for the bones). I simmered the chicken and dumplings stock for a much shorter time, and I had a plateful of intact, cooked wings when I was done.

Of course, I saved them. I put them under the broiler for a few minutes to brown and crisp up the skin. I don’t usually like chicken wings because I think they’re too greasy, but these were moist and flavorful. I think simmering them in the stock cooked most of the fat out of them.

I needed something to serve them with, and I found a recipe for anchovy-garlic sauce in one of Mark Bittman’s cookbooks that seemed to fit the bill. It reminds me of the dipping sauce we get with chicken wings at a local restaurant, a lighter, tastier alternative to the traditional buffalo-style sauce. I think this sauce is related to the traditional bagna cauda, but this one comes together in minutes.  I think this would also make a tasty dip for crudites.

Note: I used anchovy paste, but if you have real anchovies, by all means, substitute them. You have to guesstimate amounts, depending on your tolerance for anchovies. Taste frequently and adjust as necessary.

Anchovy-Garlic Dipping Sauce

Yields: ~4 servings

• 3 tbsp. butter
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tbsp. anchovy paste
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the butter and olive oil with the garlic over low until the butter melts. Stir in the anchovy paste until it is mixed well. Season to taste. Keep warm until serving.

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Spinach Dip: A Great Anytime Recipe

Who doesn’t love spinach dip? It’s healthy (sort of), always in season and a crowd pleaser. Plus, it’s dead easy to make and the ingredients are already likely to be in your fridge, so it’s a perfect appetizer for unexpected guests.

Here is my basic recipe for spinach dip. Feel free to play around with the seasonings as you like. Serve with whole-wheat crackers or pita chips. This will probably serve 4-8 people, but the recipe can easily be doubled, tripled or quadrupled.

Spinach Dip

Combine in a bowl:

• ½ cup spinach, sautéed and chopped
• 1 cup sour cream, plain yogurt and/or softened cream cheese
• 3 med. scallions, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ¼ tsp. hot sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• ½ red pepper, diced (optional)

Hummus: Simple and Easy

Image via Wikipedia

Hummus and other Middle Eastern/Mediterranean foods have become very popular lately, and with good reason. They are not only delicious, but usually chock full of things that are good for you, while low in fat. But I have to say that grocery stores and Mediterranean delis have a good scam going selling prepared hummus. If you have a food processor, it is dead easy to make it yourself, just the way you like it. And the cost of a can of chickpeas is much lower than the cost of a small tub of prepared hummus.

I love to keep hummus around for a quick lunch or snack. I’ll eat it on pita, regular bread, crostini or in a wrap with lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber. It’s a great picnic food or a nice addition to a party spread. Hummus keeps for about a week in the refrigerator.

I don’t have a set recipe for making hummus. Each time I make it just a bit differently, experimenting with the amounts, spices and herbs. The following recipe provides suggested amounts, but taste and adjust as you go to your own preferences.

Quick tip: A recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated had an article on hummus. In it, they suggested processing the chickpeas and spices first, then adding the liquids separately through the feed tube. I tried this, and it resulted in a lighter, smoother hummus. While this step is not necessary, and you may want to omit it if you like your hummus chunkier, I include it below because it did improve the texture for me.

Hummus

Process together:

• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• ½-1 tsp. cumin, or to taste
• pinch cayenne
• salt
• 1 tbsp. parsley

While the food processor is running, pour in:

• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 3 tbsp. tahini blended with 2 tbsp. olive oil

If the hummus isn’t the desired consistency, add a few tablespoons water. Garnish with minced parsley, toasted sesame seeds and maybe a drizzle of olive oil.

Notes: Adjust amounts freely to your tastes. Some people like a good deal more tahini than I do, for instance. I have substituted other spices for the cumin with good results, such as smoked paprika. You may also want to add more garlic or parsley, use paprika instead of cayenne, or even throw in some roasted red peppers. There are no rules — or at least there shouldn’t be.

Really Great Guacamole

Guacamole is one of my favorite foods in the world. I could easily eat a whole bowl by myself, and if I see it on the menu of a Mexican restaurant, I have to have it — which is why I tend to avoid Mexican restaurants.

Yes, guacamole is high in fat and calories, because avocados are high in fat and calories, and guacamole is mainly an excuse for showing off the tastiness of avocados. But avocados have the good kind of fat, so it’s okay to indulge every now and then. I think guacamole should be pure, not muddied up with mayonnaise or sour cream or a lot of additions, as some recipes will have you do. Really ripe avocados* are tasty enough by themselves, so why throw any unnecessary ingredients into the mix?

*How do you know if an avocado is really ripe? Squeeze it — it should have some give, but you shouldn’t be able to smoosh it. If it’s not ripe yet, let it sit out on the counter for a couple of days and it will ripen on its own.

Guacamole

1. Remove the flesh from 1 avocado and chop, reserving the pit (how to chop an avocado).
2. Mix in:

   • 1 tbsp. red onion, diced
   • ¼ tsp. garlic, minced
   • 1 tbsp. lime juice
   • 1 tsp. fresh chile, cayenne or hot sauce
   • pinch salt
3. Mash with a fork.
4. Taste and adjust salt, hot sauce, lime juice or garlic to suit.

Notes: All amounts are approximate — guacamole is a matter of taste, not measurements. A drizzle of olive oil may be necessary. A small amount of chopped tomato, cilantro or crumbled queso fresco is appropriate, but not at all required.

Let the mixture sit a few minutes so the flavors can mingle, but serve within one hour for best results. (If you must let it sit longer, bury the avocado pit in the guacamole and cover with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic against the surface of the guacamole; this will prevent the avocado from turning brown.)

This recipe serves 2-4 people, depending on how much they love guacamole, but it can be easily doubled, tripled or quadrupled for more guests.

Restaurant-style Crab & Artichoke Dip

I think this recipe is just as good as the crab dip you get in restaurants, and it’s surprisingly simple to make. Serve this with water crackers or slices of toasted baguette.

Restaurant-style Crab & Artichoke Dip

Serves: 8
Time to make: ~30 minutes

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 tbsp. onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp. mayonnaise
• 1 tbsp. horseradish
• 1 tbsp. lemon juice
• 8 oz. marinated, jarred artichoke hearts
• white pepper and paprika
• ½ lb. crabmeat
• food processor

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the ingredients except the crabmeat until combined. Gently fold in the crabmeat. Spread in a baking dish and bake 15-20 minutes, until bubbly.