Monday, March 4, 2013

Really good guacamole

I'm easy to please with guacamole.  I've found a commercial brand I like, so I rarely make it myself these days.  But on a recent trip to Austin, I had some that was so good, I made a stab at replicating it at home.  Definitely worth the extra effort!  So, the story is:  I was in Austin with several friends for a quilt show.  The first night there, we went to the Iron Cactus restaurant.  The food was excellent, and the guacamole delicious.  The waiters make it table-side, so you can see exactly what ingredients they put in.  Everything was so good, we went there the next night too.  Different waiter, somewhat different take on the guacamole, still great.  So here's my version, adapted from the restaurant, and also with help from a recipe by Mark Heyman I found online here.  Serve with tortilla chips--homemade are easy and tasty; see instructions here.

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Iron Cactus Table-Side Guacamole
Serves 4 to 6

2 ripe avocados (if need further ripening, put in a brown paper bag for a day or two)
1 T. finely chopped red onion  (yellow onion would likely also be fine)
2 heaping T. chopped tomato (I used several cherry tomatoes)
1/4 t. Sriracha hot chile sauce  (The restaurant used some finely chopped jalapeno, about half a pepper.  I forgot to buy the jalapeno when I was at the store, so I substituted the hot sauce.  This was fine, and it's easier than dicing the jalapeno.)
2 T. finely chopped cilantro
juice from 1 lime
juice from half an orange (juices together come to a scant 1/3 cup; less also OK)
Salt, to taste
  1. Mix lime juice, orange juice, salt, hot sauce or jalapeno, onion and cilantro together in bowl.
  2. Add avocado and mash with fork.
  3. Add tomato.
This makes a "juicier" guacamole than usual, but the fresh juice adds a lot to the taste.