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Caramelized lime guacamole


Guacamole, baby! Seriously. Thank you, Aztecs. So good. We can all agree guacamole starts with fresh avocado, but beyond that everyone has their own opinions about what should and shouldn't go into a guacamole. I like to keep it simple with chunks of fresh tomato and green onion and full of zippy chili and lime flavours. Yet this guacamole recipe doesn't just have lime juice. It has caramelized lime juice. Yup. It's like lime juice amplified, all sweet and fragrant and intense. The best part is it takes about one minute to caramelize a lime, and I can swing one extra minute for some awesome.


I love that guacamole works as a snack, an appetizer, a side dip, or as a party nosh. In fact, we're headed to a neighbour's birthday party this weekend and I'll be making more of this to bring along. Almost everyone likes guacamole. Well, I do recall a good friend in college ordering fajitas with "No Guatemala," so maybe not everyone. That still kills me.

When I'm choosing avocados at the store, I always give them a little squeeze with my finger tips to see if they're ripe. If they're hard, they're not ripe. If it feels like pockets of air are under the skin, they're overripe. But if they're just slightly soft and the skin is still firmly attached to the flesh, they're coming home with me.


Here's how I made it:

2 ripe avocados, halved, pitted, and the flesh scooped out
1 Roma tomato, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1 lime, halved
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 green onion, chopped
pinch salt

I started by heating a small non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Once it was scorching hot I placed my lime halves directly into the dry pan, flat sides down, for about one minute until the edges were caramelized, then set them aside. In a medium mixing bowl, I roughly mashed my avocados with a potato masher then added the diced tomato, chili powder, salt and the juice of the lime halves (I just jab a fork in the centre and give it a twist). I gave the whole thing a stir, scooped it into a serving dish and topped with the green onion.  


We scooped this up with salty, crunchy tortilla chips. I made an extra caramelized lime while I was at it, and it was gorgeous squeezed into a tall glass of cold sparkling water. For a second there the rowdy kid noise and the messy house disappeared and I was on a tropical beach somewhere. Oh heck, who am I kidding? Tasted good, though!

What goes into your guacamole?