Category: mmm… food

If you have leftover chicken and pesto, then it’s your obligation and duty as a sandwich maker to build this exquisitely garlicky sandwich.

I wouldn’t say this is a “recipe” exactly. It’s not complicated. It’s not difficult. It is, however, a sandwich so delicious that it may, in fact, make you speak to god. Hence, I’ve called it my “OMG” chicken sandwich. And it’s just too effing good not to write down.

WARNING: Due to the high garlic content in this sandwich, you will not be able to socialize with other people in person for at least a week.

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Let’s talk about guacamole. In this part of the world, good guacamole is hard to find. For decades, I thought guacamole was the pasty, green goop you could buy in small, sealed containers from the grocery store. Then I sampled some authentic guacamole from a little stand at a food market. It was made right there daily with fresh ingredients by owners who grew up making it. Tasting it was an eye-opener. In consistency, it was more like salsa with nice chunks of tomato, onion, and jalapeno, highlighted with the tangy notes of cilantro and lime. It was so fresh! I had to make it.

As it turns out, there are as many different favourite recipes for guacamole as there are people who make it. Everyone knows the best and most authentic way, but there’s no agreement on what that is. What I take from that is that, if you make your own guacamole, it’s very hard to get it wrong.

So here’s my own not-quite-authentic recipe for a fresh, zesty guacamole. I guarantee that if you make this, you’ll never touch the pasty stuff at the supermarket ever again.

Ingredients

• 3 ripe avocados
• 2 roma tomatoes, gutted and chopped
• A quarter white onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, chopped
• 1/2 cup or more of fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• Juice of 1 or 2 limes
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (if you use a garlic press, it wastes some, so use 3 cloves)
• Habanero pepper sauce (I like Cholula, but most habanero sauces work)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

I prefer to chop my ingredients rather than use a food processor. Using the latter tends to produce a purée rather than tiny, tasty chunks, but for some it’s easier to do. This is the chopping method.

1. Put the meat from 3 avocados into a mixing bowl with the lime juice and mash it to a pulp. Lime juice is not only tasty, but its acid helps prevent the blackening of the avocado.
2. Gut the roma tomatoes and jalapenos (no seeds or tomato jelly). Chop the tomatoes, onion, and jalapeno, and throw them into the bowl. These should be tiny individual chunks, but not a purée.
3. Finely chop the garlic and cilantro. Dump them into the mixing bowl. (If you use a food processor, these two should be almost puréed.)
4. Add about a half tablespoon of habanero pepper sauce, and a half teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
5. Mix the ingredients in the bowl thoroughly until you get an even consistency throughout.
6. Taste. Add more cilantro, habanero sauce, salt, and pepper if you need to.

This is enough to serve several people at a party. Or yourself for a few days. I’m not judging.

If you need to store it, put it in an airtight bowl with plastic wrap pressed right down onto the guac to force out any air, then put on the bowl’s lid. Air causes oxidation, which is what causes blackening of avocados; the plastic prevents most air contact.