[MAKE] Food52’s Genius Guacamole Recipe
Food52, the food-focused community founded by Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs is all about cooking up inspiration with a side of beautiful photography. Their latest project – a cookbook – takes all that gustatory genius offline in over 100-pages of effortless recipes from food luminaries. In celebration of Cinco, here an unexpectedly simple guacamole recipe from chef Roberto Santibeanz’ that will change the way you dip.
Makes about 1 3/4 cups
- 2tablespoons finely chopped white onion
- 1tablespoon minced fresh serrano or jalapeno chile, including seeds, or more to taste
- 1/2teaspoon kosher salt, or 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4cup chopped cilantro, divided
- 1large or 2 small ripe Mexican Hass avocados, halved and pitted
- A squeeze of lime, if desired
- Mash the onion, chile, salt (the coarseness of kosher salt helps you make the paste), and half of the cilantro to a paste in a molcajete or other mortar. You can also mince and mash the ingredients together on a cutting board with a large knife or a fork, and then transfer the paste to a bowl.
- Score the flesh in the avocado halves in a crosshatch pattern (not through the skin) with a knife and then scoop it with a spoon into the mortar or bowl. Toss well (it should be like salad properly dressed in vinaigrette), then add the rest of the cilantro and mash very coarsely with a pestle or a fork. Season to taste with lime juice (if you’d like) and additional chile and salt.
