guilty conscience

I feel like I'm sitting here wrought with guilt because I haven't really cooked anything this week and, as a result, I have been a neglectful blogger. Well, I'm lying I did make a few things, but it was granola, and gnocchi and salad (haw shoo). All of which I have written about before. This boring predictable-ness of my diet might be good at keeping me svelte for swimsuit season (where the heck even ARE you, swimsuit season?) but it's also making for a wicked boring food blog.

So, it's Friday, and in the interest of assuaging my guilty conscience I wanted to post something before the weekend. So I'm going to unload a real crowd pleaser, albeit, not a very complex culinary adventure: guacamole.

I don't mean for one hot second to downplay how much I cherish guacamole. Avocados are an obsession. They are like the butter of the fruit world. They make any sandwich swoon-worthy, a salad stand up and demand to be noticed and they are very good for you as well. Guacamole is one of those sure fire hits that everybody adores you for bringing to the party. There is almost never enough of it to go around even if you make a ton. It's just that good.

AUNT JESS'S CHUNKY GUACAMOLE:
(adapted from my cousin, Jenny, and every guacamole I've ever eaten)

3-4 ripe avocados
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced OR a cup of cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1/2 red onion, diced
1 lemon, halved
Generous sloshes of hot sauce (I prefer Cholula)
1/2 package crumbled feta cheese (optional)
Small drizzle olive oil (optional)
S n' P

Slice your avocados in half with a large kitchen knife. Being ever so careful, attempt to remove the pit from the fruit. My method (and I am not particularly known for my kitchen safety) is once the avocado is halved, I hack the knife into the pit (with a brisk hi-ya! chopping movement) and twist, loosening the pit, which will come out of the meat of the avocado, yet stick to the knife. I then fling the pit from the edge of my knife into the garbage. Using care, I slice the avocado within its skin lengthwise and across into squares, then I use a spoon to scoop my now completely diced up avocado pieces into the bowl. This may not be the safest method out there, but I fancy myself kind of a dare devil when it comes to dip and appetizer preparation. Into the bowl with your diced avocado, add the onion and tomato, generously salt and grind fresh pepper over your bowl, juice one half of your lemon into the mix, top with the feta, a small drizzle of the olive oil and some generous shakes of hot sauce. How much hot sauce you use depends on how spicy you like it. I like mine hot, I probably use more than 1/4 a cup of Cholula when all is said and done.



Use your spoon or fork to combine. This particular kind of guacamole is very chunky, so it doesn't need much mashing up. However, the last time I made this, I diced the vegetables a bit smaller, skipped the feta and stirred aggressively, resulting in a smoother, more traditionally textured guacamole. Before wrapping up (if traveling with the dip) squeeze the juice from 1/4 of your remaining lemon over the top to keep the mashed avocado from browning. At this point, I also like to add another drizzle of hot sauce, because it tastes amazing and looks pretty too.



And now I want to eat some. Devour immediately with chips. Or, if you are my boyfriend use as a condiment on anything and everything you eat for the remainder of the night.