Steve’s daughter, Kate, is a guacamole purist. She appreciates simplicity. She told me that guacamole was all about the avocado—perfectly ripe, perfectly smooshed, and with just enough garlic, salt and lemon to showcase its flavor. All those recipes with tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, and all that other stuff just had “too many ingredients,” that didn’t add anything, and might in fact diminish the experience.

Watching her prepare a batch made me appreciate her perspective. She took extra care to choose only those avocados that were perfectly ripe—with an ebony rind with only the faintest trace of green. Firm, but not hard—just a little “give” under the thumb—like a firm pillowtop mattress. She gave great attention to splitting the fruit, removing the seed, dicing the avocado in the skin (into squares of about ¼- ½  inch) and then removing the pieces with a spoon (see the photos in the gallery for details). She then switched to a fork for mashing all the ingredients together—no food processors here.  And the added ingredients? Only 3: granulated garlic, salt, and lemon juice).

So here’s the recipe, and it’s ok if you choose to make it the canvas you use to paint your own masterpiece by adding additional ingredients. But try it like this first, and appreciate its simplicity, its purity. By the way, keeping guacamole green is always a challenge. The best method we’ve found is to add a little lemon juice and put your guacamole in a Ziploc bag, removing ALL the air. Keep this in the fridge and you’ll find it still perfectly green the next day.

6 avocados
1/4 tsp granulated garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice (or to taste)

Pit avocados, gently slice into cubes and remove from skins with a large spoon (see photos for detail).  “Smoosh” avocado with spoon.  Once you have a chunky paste, switch to a fork and add garlic, salt & lemon juice.  Continue to mash the guacamole until you have a rich, thick consistency with lots of chunks.  Serve immediately.