At this time of year I always feel a push/pull in terms of cooking.
On one hand, the lingering nights and the welcome presence of seasonal neighbors make me long to entertain on a lavish scale, to share food and conversation on my porch as the sun takes its time sinking in the West.
On the other hand, the frantic pace of summer in these parts — with extra concerts, lectures, parties and afternoons by the water — makes it hard to find the time to put together complicated meals.
The heat exacerbates my reluctance to cook. When it’s hot outside, as it has been for much of the past month, I flat out refuse to turn on my oven … and try to use even the stovetop sparingly. I don’t want to make the house any hotter than it already is.
My compromise is to entertain but on a simple scale. I tend to invite friends to join me either for dessert (like the blueberry ice cream I shared here last week) or for cocktails and appetizers.
One of my favorite appetizers is a salsa fresca like pico de gallo, fruit salsa, or guacamole. These dishes all share elements: fresh fruit, acid, onion, garlic, peppers, and cilantro. Salsa fresca means, simply, fresh sauce. There’s no cooking involved in these foods.
I recently had a hankering for guacamole and wanted to prepare that green ambrosia for neighbors. Apparently, I wasn’t the only person in the grocery store with such a hankering. All of the avocados in the bin were very, very hard.
Still, I knew — and many readers probably know — that avocados are climacteric fruits, that is, fruits that continue to ripen after picking. This is a handy quality in our area. Avocado trees cannot stand a hard frost so they aren’t a local crop.
Most avocados we see in stores are from Mexico. They are picked rock hard so that they can travel safely to our stores without bruising.
If you find yourself in the situation I did recently, with super hard avocados, it’s easy to ripen them. Just leave them out on your counter or table for several days.
Check them every day; the ideal avocado for eating (and transforming into guacamole) has just a little give when you press it gently. It should be neither hard nor mushy.
If you’re in a rush, as I was, use the old wives’ trick that also works on bananas and other climacteric fruits. Pop your avocados into a plain, loosely closed paper bag, and let them ripen inside. Continue to check frequently.
The avocados produce a gas called ethylene, which helps them ripen. When the gas is trapped with the fruit in the bag, it makes the avocados ripen more quickly.
My avocados ripened in two days using this method. I have read that the process can be sped up even more by placing a banana in the bag along with the avocados because bananas produce even more ethylene gas than avocados. I haven’t tried this method, but I may do so soon.
Once my avocados were ripe, I assembled the rest of the guacamole ingredients. The recipe below says to use a jalapeño pepper, but I used an unknown pepper labeled simply “hot” at Butynski’s Farm Stand. It was delicious.
I enjoy the taste of cilantro so this herb features heavily in my guacamole. It makes this raw dish taste extra fresh. If you are one of those people who dislike the flavor of cilantro or think it tastes like soap, feel free to leave it out and let cumin star in your recipe.
Happy entertaining!
Ingredients:
3 scallions a.k.a, green onions (white and some green parts), chopped, or about 2 tablespoons of finely chopped red onion
1 large garlic clove, peeled and minced
1 small jalapeño pepper (more if you like spicy foods), with the stem and seeds removed, finely chopped
1 small ripe tomato (optional—only use it if in season), cored and chunked (You may also use a few chopped cherry or grape tomatoes.)
5 sprigs fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seed (optional but good, particularly if you skip the cilantro)
the juice of 2 small limes
3 small, ripe avocados
1 teaspoon salt
Instructions:
In a 1-quart bowl, combine the onions, the garlic, the pepper pieces, the tomato, the cilantro, the cumin and the lime juice.
At this point, you may leave the mixture for a few hours to marinate. This step enhances the flavors, but it isn’t strictly necessary. About 15 minutes before you want to eat the guacamole, get out your avocados. Slice them in half lengthwise.
Separate the avocado halves from the pits, and use a spoon or fork to scoop out the flesh of the avocado. (If there is brown flesh, don’t use it; aim for the light green stuff.) Actually, I often eschew the fork or spoon and just squeeze the avocado skin to release the fruit.
Put the avocado flesh in the bowl with the onions, the garlic, the peppers, the tomatoes, the cilantro, the cumin, and the lime juice.
Mash the avocados into the mixture with a fork or a masher with holes, adding the salt as you mash so that it is stirred in. You don’t have to mash the fruit too much; a few chunks add personality.
Place the guacamole in a decorative bowl, and serve it with tortilla chips. Serves 6 to 8.
Tinky Weisblat is an award-winning author and singer. Her next book will be “Pot Luck: Random Acts of Cooking.” Visit her website, TinkyCooks.com.