Inspired by MovNat meals (see the last photo at the link) I have been enjoying grilled carne asada, prepping guacamole as far more than a garnish or dip. Instead, think substitute for mashed potatoes. Do a lot. Tell your guests that rice & beans suck nutritionally by comparison. Fill up on the guac instead.
So getting started, we have the avocados, roma tomatoes, fresh garlic, onion, jalapeno peppers, cilantro and lime. You’ll need salt, too. Salt is one of those essentials for good guac, in my view and it’s the one time I’m pretty liberal in its use. Try it. It’s remarkable how much it brings out the flavor.
Mega Guac Essentials
I don’t use fixed quantities but do it to taste, each step along the way. In this case, all 4 avocados, two of the tomatoes, half the onion, two cloves of garlic, two medium jalapenos, about a half cup of cilantro, lime juice & salt to taste.
Step one is to mash the avocado with a potato masher. You want it chunky, not a puree, so don’t use a processor. Mash it by itself so as not to crush your other chunky ingredients. Next goes the finely chopped onion, to taste. I chop more than enough, add most of it, stir in and add more bits until just right (judge for crunch, too). Next goes the garlic, crushed and finely chopped. Then the peppers, seeds removed, very finely chopped and with a bit of a crush from the side of the knife. Do one pepper first, stir in, let sit and taste in about five minutes. Add whatever portion or all of the 2nd pepper, or more if you like. I like it pretty spicy and should have got a 3rd pepper.
The tomatoes are coarsely chopped, seeds & mush removed. For the cilantro, I like to chop up both leaves and stems in about equal portions from both sides. Be careful. It’s pretty powerful and can overpower the other flavors. Last is lime juice & salt to taste. As mentioned, I recommend going a bit liberal on the salt.
Guacamole
I have a sister-in-law who makes awesome guacamole. I couldn’t reach her yesterday to confirm the particulars of her recipe or method, but this is what I imagined it might be close to. The jalapeno is the essential ingredient — other than the avocado, of course.
Next step was to get grilling the carne asada, obtained from the excellent Mi Pueblo market in walking distance. In this case it was flap meat or bavette, marinated in some green spices.
Carne on the Grill
A bit blurry on that pic, but the other one was worse. Friends Julie and Robert brought a salad with bacon bits to top things off.
Dinnertime!
I ate my first helping of salad with just the vinaigrette provided, then for a second helping tossed it with a good bit of the guac, with excellent results. Oh, not pictured but serve the meat with a lime cut in half and squeeze it all over the meat. Essential step.
Dig In
A bit blurry there too, but better if you click for the hi-res version.
Later: OK, if you do this preparation, one more word of advice if you intend to take pictures to show your family, friends, or blog about. Make preparations to have enough for leftovers. Doing this post at the end of a fast made me hungry.
Leftovers
Feel free to include some tequila to sip on.
Please, open a restaurant! You’re killing me with these photos!
Thanks so much for the ongoing education you provide. I think it was you who mentioned red-palm-oil at the MovNat course. I recently bought some but could use some advice on what’s good to use it on/with/for.
Thanks Again,
Marc
Marc:
I’m sure Ill post on that soon. I have to find out what spices were used in the palm based sauce we used on everything, including scrabbled eggs, but for the salad, just straight palm oil will do.
Home-made guac – I’ll do one this week.
Mention of jalapenos remind me ALWAYS of the time I worked in Texas: the smell at the rodeo, pick-ups with gun-racks, dancin’ the Schottische and how many raw jalepenos can you eat before gittin’ commode-huggin’-drunk.
“But that was in another country, and besides the time is dead” .
Your guac recipe is the same as mine except: use a hot fire – coals, wood, propane torch, etc. – to char the outside of the jalapenos. Put in a small container – I use a small paper sack – for a few minutes to allow self-steaming, then peel the charred skin when cool enough to handle. The flavor of the pepper will change to a lightly smoked flavor, even if using the propane torch. This really makes a big difference in the overall flavor of whatever food is prepared with the charred jalapenos. (This works for any pepper – habanero, bell, anaheims, etc.)
I’ve done the toasted guar before. Toast the garlic, too. My wife really like it, I don’t hate it, but I so like totally fresh too.
Very nice.
thats all you have to do to make guacamole??? hmm….i alwyas figured it was a laborous process lol. i usually just slice salt and eat….may have to venture out!
Could you elaborate a bit more on the Carne Asada Richard?
I always try to make good Carne but it never turns out tasting how I want it to.
What cut did you start with? Flank? And what was the marinade base/other ingredients?
Thanks a lot! Loving the food posts lately, getting a lot of different ideas.
Matthew:
Got it at a local Mexican market and it was flap meat, ie Bavette.
Thank you for posting this! I love guac but have a hard time making it good, I think not enough salt and I don’t add the peppers (small immature humans eating this also) which probably effects the flavor. But this is a good start, really appreciate it!
You can always do the peppers last, then separate a portion for the non spicy types.
Carne and guac looks great! I got my car worked on today and had lunch while waiting… steak fajita meat and I got a side of guacamole. Not the greatest Mexican place around here, but ok very average. I’ve been craving avocado but right now this week I was hard-pressed to find a ripe useable one at the stores. Bummer!
I’ve made guac with just avocado, tomato, and onion and it is pretty good for a very mild guac.
Keep up the food porn, even if it is blurry!
TrailGrrl
First time I heard of the words carne asada.
It simply means grilled beef, Sue. Typically, the beef is thin sliced and marinated, though the spice mix varies. You can employ Google and find out a lot.
Yeh I did – thank goodness for google.
Good call on the meal. I’ll have to try adding the japs to guacamole. Mine is pretty similar, but I also add a bit of cumin which makes all the difference in the world. Keep up the good work.
We ate guacamole as a side last night with Mexican-spiced roast beef mmmmm! I’ve been tempted to eat guacamole as a side before, but thought people might think it was weird. Thanks for sharing your post. Now I know we’re not alone!