BBQed Avocado Guacamole

This is a great summer guacamole -- my favorite is to BBQ avocados on the beach - and use the leftovers (if there are any...) to make guacamole the next day for breakfast burritos.

To BBQ an avocado -- cut them in half and take out the pit as usual. Then season them up a bit (salt, pepper, some savory BBQ sauce if you like) and throw 'em down like Bobby Flay. Let them cook for about 3 minutes until you see the skin turning crispy on the edge and the oil cooking and making the skin turn a lighter green (note picture above).

Now flip them over and cook, skin side down, for another 3 minutes.  Remove from grill - fill the "pit hole" with your favorite salsa -- and eat!  If you make a BUNCH of these (I mean - like a dozen for 5 people...) you'll have some left over to use for your breakfast guacamole.

Store them with the skin on, salsa left in them, in an airtight Tupperware or other plastic bowl (NEVER store avocados and/or salsa in metal -- it will oxidize the avocados AND the salsa's acid will make the food taste metallic. Yuck.)

To make Grilled Avocado Guacamole:

A. Use your left over grilled avocados - with the salsa left in them from last night.

B. Peel those suckers (take the skin off) and mash them.

C. Put on your breakfast burritos and eat!

The flavor is pretty unique - as the oil has cooked a bit and makes for a SUPER creamy guacamole. Also -- the salsa has mingled with the 'cado flesh all night and really makes a unified flavor.

(Breakfast burritos - see my recipe here.)

Tools of the Trade

If you like to make a really authentic guacamole, use an ancient stone bowl with it's own grinding stone. This is called a "molecajete" or "sauce maker" in Spanish. ("Mole" mean's sauce.)

My favorite recipe can be found here: Molecajete Guacamole.

Here are instructions to prep your molecajete for first time use:

• Soak the molecajete in warm water for a few hours (fill up your sink and let it sit in the water, NO SOAP!).
• Dry it out carefully with a dish towel or paper towels - try to clear out any "sand" or rocks.
• Take a small handful of rice and grind it into the molecajete until the rice turns into a grey power. 
• Repeat this step until the rice stays white when you grind it. 
• Your ancient tool is now ready to use!

To maintain your molecajete:

• Rinse your molecajete after each use and scrub with a brush - but DO NOT use soap. Soap will dry it out AND also be absorbed into the stone resulting in bubbles and an awful taste.
• Make sure your molecajete is dried out before storage. (E.g. - leave it upside down on the counter, on a dish towel over night). 
• To sanitize it - you can either leave out in the sun once in a while to bake (on a hot summer day!) or put it in a 350 degree (F) oven for 20 minutes. 

The Avocado Diva sells a great medium sized molecajete set - we obtain them from a Indonesia - with a less porous lava stone (rather than a huge-grained lava stone ones from Mexico - the Diva finds the inexpensive Mexican ones too crumbly -- the stone constantly sheds rocks).  

A molecajete is traditionally passed down from generation to generation, improving with use and over the years - absorbing flavors and spices. Buy one to pass along to your favorite little avocado gobbler! Also makes a great, unique gift for that person who has everything!

Not all things that go with AVOCADO go in GUACAMOLE

Heritage Avocados & lemon

One of my pet peeves is when people call all things with avocado "guacamole". Stop it peeps!

Salt from 7 seas

Guacamole is by the Diva's definition (and, after all, that's what matters! Lol....)

A "mole" (sauce, in Spanish) made with an aquacate (avocado's name in the original Aztec). It must have these two other things:
- salt

- lime or lemon juice

Anything beyond that get's iffy... but if they are of "Mexican" type origin - then you can still call it guacamole (according to the Avocado Diva). 

• onions
• garlic
• pepper(s)
• tomato
• cilantro
• other savory spices 

These things can be dried, flaked, chopped, diced, sliced, - WHATEVER!  Of course, the Diva's favorite is with FRESH, fresh (did I mention fresh?!) ingredients.  Except the garlic. That must be from her own, original Guacamole Spice Mix (click here). 

Once you get beyond this list -- then it needs to be called something else. A salad. A refresco. "The world's longest title for an avocado dish that is mashed but has weird things in it (that could still be delicious) like shrimp or crab as well as fresh dill." A creamed avocado with _____________.

But do NOT call it guacamole. 

FEAR FACTOR: Using cactus to eat guacamole...

Not a DYED chip - it's made with CACTUS!

Today's blog is about an "acceptable guacamole delivery device".  Now the Diva's favorite way to eat guacamole is with freshly made, right out of the fryer, flour tortilla chips. *drool*

She also likes to eat them transported on cucumber slices or with carrot sticks (less drool -- but a better diet option.)

Some items should NOT be used to move the guacamole from the bowl to your mouth:

• A knife
• Your fingers
 (whoops - that happens all the time...)
• Walnuts
• Puppies
• Cheetos
• Cactus

Well -- maybe cactus!

Cactus chips - 12% of your daily fiber!

If it's in the form of these crunchy cactus chips!

The Nopaltilla folks are often at our local Farmer's Market - and the chips are delicious and super crunchy.

According to them, nopal (paddle cactus) has loads of fiber and calcium too. They use only organic cactus as well as non-GMO white corn. They offer tortillas and wraps too.

And yes, you can buy them online. Check them out here and tell them the Avocado Diva sent you.

Leave the Diva a comment and tell her what YOU like to transport your guacamole with! She loves attention.