Roasted Jalapeño Guacamole

If you like spicy food, my flame-roasted Jalapeño approach to guacamole is what you need in your life. Texture plays and important role in my recipe by way of with finely chopped white onion, while the absence of tomatoes eliminates the “slime” factor. But most importantly, using a pastry cutter to mash everything allows you to preserve some larger pieces of buttery avocado much better than a fork would do. Finally, an abundance of lime juice cools things down to balance out the spiciness. 

Finding ripe avocados year-round can be a challenge, but there is a trick … and not the populer trick of storing them in a paper bag to ripen faster. Skip all of that drama and seek out avocados at a Mexican grocery store. By grocery store I don’t mean a large mainstream-looking supermarket. Instead, look for small “bodegas” (or corner stores) that look more like a convenience store. Many times they have awesomely ripe avocados in a basket near the cash register; if not they sometimes pull one out from behind the counter if you ask nicely. Mexican markets tend to take their avocados super seriously, so I imagine they take whatever steps are needed to get great avocado deliveries all year long. Because of this availability, good-quality guacamole can often be made even in the off-season months.

Another trick I implement here is the order in which I mix things. First, squeeze the heck out of all the limes to extract the juice. Then add the salt, garlic, and Jalapeños and let that mixture rest for a little while. Doing it this way creates a thoroughly seasoned base of which to mash everything into. Conversely, when you simply dump everything into the bowl at once ands start mashing, I don’t believe the flavors get distributed as thoroughly. 

How to store guacamole 

Guacamole is infamously known for turning brown very quickly. To combat this, store your guac in the fridge with the pits they came with. This trick will not completely eliminate browning, but doing this will slow it down substantially. The other obvious solution is to not make so much in the first place.

Ingredients

• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp salt, divided
• 1 jalapeño pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped white onion
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 2 Hass avocados
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• pinch of chili powder (optional)

Instructions

1.  On a gas stove, place jalapeño pepper directly on an open flame. As it blisters and turns black, rotate and repeat until entire surface is charred on all the way around.  Remove from heat, let cool for one minute. Peel off charred skin with your fingers, its okay if a little black is smeared on the pepper. Remove tips of pepper along with seeds and most of the inner ribs. I tend to keep some of the inner ribs because they can deliver some heat without having to deal with biting into a seed.
   
2. Crush garlic clove with ½ teaspoon kosher salt to a paste-like consistency. I recommend using mortar and pestle but you can also use the side of a knife blade and mince it with a knife. Finely chop prepared jalapeño, white onion and cilantro. Transfer garlic, jalapeño, onion and cilantro to a medium bowl. Add lime juice and remaining ½ teaspoon of salt and stir thoroughly. This is acts as a base to season your avocados.
3. Loosely cut avocados into cubes and thoroughly stir into prepared mixture. Using pastry blender, break down avocados until desired texture is achieved. You could use a fork if needed.

Yield: About 2 cups.