Believe it or not, I’ve always been fairly apathetic about guacamole. Want to order some from the table? Sure! I’m in. Want to charge me extra to put it on my taco? Nah, I’m good. Yet every now and again, there’s a guacamole that just hits the spot and makes me beg for more. This is one that just does that. I had roasted a few jalapeños for another meal, but I didn’t need as many as I made. I threw the extra in the fridge waiting for the perfect dish to use it in when my husband spotted a huge sale on avocados and asked me to make guacamole. As I was throwing everything together, I remembered that jalapeño and this magic was born. There’s just something about that extra zhuzh you get from the roasting process that makes that “one last bite” a repeat process.
Now, for the cilantro…I am one of those carriers of the “tastes like soap” gene. Since I normally like my food to not taste like I ran it through the dishwasher, I substitute parsley whenever I need cilantro. You still get that lovely herbaceous touch, hold the lye. I wrote this recipe with cilantro to keep the authenticity, but feel free to replace if you’re like me.
A couple tips and tricks that might help along the way:
- Once you halve the avocado, use your knife to cross-hatch the avocado before removing from the skin. This keeps you from having to over-mash and end up with a puree. Better to start chunky!
- Use a fork to mash, but stop a little before you get to the texture you like. You will still need to stir in a few things and no matter how gentle you are, you will continue to mash a little more as you go.
- Every time you put this away, cover with a little more lime juice to help preserve it and prevent oxidation
- Look for the white lines on the skin of your jalapeño – this indicates the level of heat. The more lines, the hotter the pepper. If you like heat, roast a couple peppers and reserve any extra for future use. If you don’t like a lot of heat, don’t add all the jalapeño at once. Start with a little and continue to taste until you get your heat level. Remember, you can always add, but you can’t take away!
This guacamole is very versatile, so have fun with how you use it! I like to start with it as a dip, then top everything I can think of with any leftovers. I even tried it on top of my roasted bell pepper soup leftovers and it was divine!
Roasty Guacamole
Ingredients
- 4 Avocados
- 1/2 Red Onion finely diced
- 1 Jalapeno green
- 1 Bunch Cilantro* chopped (see note)
- 1 Lime plus more, to taste
- 1 Clove Garlic finely diced
- 2 tsp Sea Salt
- Olive Oil (or choice of oil) for drizzling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 465°
- On a small parchment-lined pan, drizzle jalapeno with olive oil (or oil of choice) and sprinkle with salt. Roast for 15-20 minutes, checking every 5 minutes after the first 10 for doneness.
- While jalapeño is roasting, finely dice red onion and garlic
- Halve and pit avocados into a bowl. Immediately squeeze one half of the lime over the avocados to prevent oxidation (browning).
- Lightly mash avocados with a fork, being careful not to over-mash into a puree
- Switching to a spoon, stir in red onion and garlic
- Once jalapeño is cooled enough to handle, dice and stir into avocado mix
- Fold in cilantro to taste
- Fold in salt and the remaining lime juice**. Taste as you go as the level of saltiness is entirely up to your preference.
Notes
- *You can substitute parsley if you do not like cilantro
- **If you are serving immediately, use your remaining lime juice. If making ahead, reserve a little lime juice to put directly over the top of your guacamole before refrigerating in an airtight container.
- If you find yourself needing to wait for the jalapeño to cool further, be sure to cover the guacamole in an airtight container and refrigerating until you’re ready to proceed