Holy Guacamole!

Since our family is not big on sticking to the rules when it comes to food and celebrations (remember: we had tachos for Thanksgiving!), this 4th of July we got together and ate tacos!

Greta pulled everything together (tasty, seasoned ground beef, refried black beans, Spanish rice, and all the taco fixings), so I felt like I should at least make one contribution. My molcajete has been thoroughly seasoned and has been waiting to be used, so I decided to make guacamole for the family dinner.
A few days ago, I went to one of my favorite places, Trader Joe's. I was all set to pick up my guacamole ingredients, but super-fabulous TJ's had something better--a guacamole kit! For about $3.50, I picked up almost everything I needed: two avocados, a roma tomato, a couple cloves of garlic, a jalapeno pepper, a lime, and a shallot. Perfecto!

Just before dinner was ready, I whipped up the guac in my molcajete. Here's what I did:

• Roughly chop the shallot and garlic cloves. Place them in the molcajete and add a hefty pinch of kosher salt. Using the pestle, grind the shallot and garlic into a paste (the salt will facilitate grinding). If you don't have a molcajete, throw the salt over the shallot and garlic and, using your chef's knife, chop everything into a nice paste.
• Slice open an avocado and scoop out the meat into the molcajete (when I made this, I only used 1 1/2 avocado--use as much as you want!). Squeeze the juice of at least one lime over the avocado (I used 1 1/2 limes)--this will help keep the avocado from turning brown. If you don't have a molcajete, just use a normal bowl.
• With your pestle (or the back of a spoon if not using a molcajete), squish the avocado, mixing the lime juice and shallot/garlic combo.
• Finely mince as much of the jalapeno as you like (be sure to remove the seeds and membranes) and add it to the avocado mixture. Stir, or combine with the pestle.
  
• Chop the roma tomato into bite-sized pieces. Add as much as you want to the guac and stir (or grind) well. (I used about 1/2 the roma tomato).
• Adjust the guacamole to your taste--you may want to add more salt, lime, or tomato.
• Serve immediately! It's super yummy on tortilla chips, in tacos, however you want to serve it.
• NOTE: If you like it, you could add some fresh cilantro to the guac!
  

My dad raved about this guac and said it was the best he'd ever had. He said anytime I want to make it, he'd be willing to eat it!

I liked how simple this was to make using the molcajete. You can control how fine the avocado chunks are very easily. It may just be wishful thinking, but I think the molcajete helps improve the flavor of the guac. And I was very happy that the molcajete didn't add any unwanted grit...I worked like crazy to prep the darn thing, so I'm glad my elbow-grease paid off.

Whether you have a molcajete or not, be sure to whip up this guacamole! It's easy, fresh and, best of all, delicious!