Blessed Gem and Chili Flake Guacamole

We got invited to a friend's beach house - and being the Diva as well as a good guest... I had brought avocados and lemons - but forgot my Diva's Guacamole Spice Mix! I rummaged through her (somewhat bare) cupboard and found salt, pepper and (yippee!) chili flakes.

I also did not have my "normal" 14,000 avocado tools from my own kitchen - only a cheapo steak knife (probably stolen from a local restaurant... LoL) and a fork & spoon. So in a pinch - the Diva does what a Diva has to do.

In summertime you can get Hass and Hass-descendant avocados such as a Gem or a Lamb. These fruit have "classic" characteristics - such a a thick skin that turns dark black when ripe, an oily texture, and a very rich, nutty flavor with overtones of butter.

Here are the techniques and flavors I used for this simple guacamole. With so few spices and so few other ingredients (e.g. - no tomato, no onion, no cilantro!) the flavor of the GEM really shone through and we got to taste the avocado itself.

That was actually the blessing in disguise here.

TECHNIQUE - normally I use an avocado slicer to get all the creamy goodness out of my avocados. The "Diva Slicer" takes out the pit too - and is very fast and effective. (You can click on the colored words "avocado slicer" to see it.) But since I only had a knife AND because the Gem has a thicker skin than green, winter avocados (like a Bacon) or the really thin black skinned heritage variety of Mexicolas - I was able to just "cube" the flesh inside the avocado by making two slices top to bottom (see photo) and then several "cross hatches" sideways.

I was careful to go "to" the skin, but not thru it. (Note - this is almost impossible to do with many of my heritage avocados, thus why I usually use my slicer). Next, I just scooped out all the flesh (including as much of the deep, dark flesh nearest the skin - this is the flesh that has the most flavor as well as most of the vitamins and minerals. Get it all folks, get it all.)

Plopping all the cubes into a ceramic bowl (never use metal bowls for avocados - it makes them oxidize even faster) I squeezed my lemon over it.

INGREDIENTS:
1 or 2 Gem (or Hass or Lamb) avocados
chili pepper flakes (even stolen from a pizza place!)
salt
lemon

DIRECTIONS:
1. Pit and then cube up your ripe avocados, using the technique shown above.
2. Smash most of the avocado roughly, using a fork. Leave some big chunks!
3. Squeeze the lemon juice over the cubes of avocados - for flavor and also to keep the avocado from turning brown.
4. Add salt and grind the chili pepper flakes to taste.
5. Stir and mix the salt and chili in well.
6. Serve with chips and enjoy the deep, nutty flavor of your summer avocados.


This was a perfect appetizer with our California Central Coast wine (a crisp, white Viogner) and some fresh, crispy tortilla chips. We watched the sun set over the Pacific from my friends patio as we counted our blessings.  Enjoy!