Chunky Guacamole

Looking to get your 5 a day? Guacamole is where it's at. Filled with the healthy omega fats in avocadoes and the cancer fighting lycopenes in tomatoes, this dip does the body good.

I've noticed that even those that don't ordinarily like veggies seem to love the fresh flavors in guacamole as well. If you don't like guacamole, it might be because you've only tried the store bought varieties; consistency of green baby food, filled with sourcream to keep the price down.

Storebought guac contains so little avocado that one woman has sued Kraft foods challenging the right to even consider their dip guacamole but instead suggest it should be called, "Guacamole flavored dip."

Guacamole is the perfect summer food. I know a bowl of tortilla chips, guacamole, and a good margarita on the back patio is a sure fire way to make my Mom happy on hot summer days.

To make this dip all you need to know how to do is chop veggies, no cooking involved. If you own a food processor you don't even need to know how to chop. Cuisinart and Kitchen Aid food processors are the two highest rated brands according to America's Test Kitchen. I would recommend getting one no smaller than 7-cup capacity.

A word of advice, make guacamole no more than an hour or so before serving to ensure the avocadoes keep their bright green color and to ensure the juices from the tomatoes don't run. To ensure ripe avocadoes, buy them when they are hard and ripen on your counter about 2 days until flesh is slightly soft when pressed.

At this point if you aren't going to use the avocado right away, store in your refrigerator to preserve firmness and taste for up to a week before use.

Serves 6 (generously)

4 avocadoes, (Cut in half, scoop out pit. With a knife cut a grid of small squares through the flesh of the avocado. Scoop out the flesh.)
2 large tomatoes, chopped
Handful of cilantro, shredded
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 large sweet onion, chopped (If you don't like intense onion flavor, soak chopped onion in water for about 30 minutes to subtle the flavor)
1-2 limes, juiced
Kosher or Sea Salt, to taste about 1 tsp.

Ground pepper, to taste
Red pepper flakes or 1/4-1/2 jalapeno, to taste

Mix ingredients together in a bowl, I prefer to keep the avocado nice looking by keeping it in little cubes instead of smashing into green paste. Serve with tortilla chips.

Here's a little song to help you remember the basic recipe for..... Guacamole! Hey!

(Picture provided by 3 zesty lemons blog)

Friday Night Eats

On Friday Christopher had the idea to re-live some cuisine we had together last year during our trip to Seattle. We ate at Lola's a modern Greek reconstruction restaurant and ate a unique Kalamata and Fig Spread on pita bread. We decided to make a party of it and invited Marlon over to help us re-create the recipe.

We bought raw pizza dough from the store and grilled the raw dough in a cast-iron skillet. The result was bread as tender as Indian naan but with a familiar American pizza dough taste. The resulting bread was used as the vehicle to sop up the tasty spreads. We made one savory and one sweet spread that went great with the Pinot Noir Marlon brought over. We all agreed the spreads were good enough to make again although the sweet spread was the most reminiscent of the spread from Lola's that we missed so much. We also made Strawberry and Whipped Cream Napoleons for dessert but that is a story for another day.

I included the recipe for the sweet mission fig and olive tapenade below. I excluded the salt from the recipe because we found the olives gave the recipe an ample salty taste. We also added 1T orange zest for another flavor dimension. The rich taste and the intriguing texture of the figs contrasts well with the salty black and purple olives in this recipe. I can't wait to share this appetizer with friends on the deck with a glass of Las Brisas wine this summer.

• 
  Fig and Kalamata Tapenade
  1.5 c chopped dried black mission figs
  .5 c kalamata olives pitted and chopped
  1/3 c pine nuts (toasted) (chopped and toasted walnuts would also work)
  2 T balsamic vinegar
  2 T extra virgin olive oil
  2T capers (blotted dry)
  1.5 t fresh oregano
  1/2 t black pepper
  1 T orange zest
  
  Chop figs and olives in food processor.
  Mix remaining ingredients together with figs and olives and serve.
  (Recipe found from Google Books.)