Homemade Fresh Tomato Salsa & Guacamole

Memorial Day has come and gone so that means summertime is nearly upon us! And what's an essential component to any summer get-together? Chips and salsa! Even better when its a deliciously homemade fresh tomato salsa and homemade guacamole too! Both are so simple to make but offer so much more than the run-of-the-mill store bought variety that is hastily grabbed at the last minute. I have made both the Salsa and Guacamole on several occasions to rave reviews and now you can too!


What makes these so easy to prepare is that the ingredient list is fairly simple and straight forward. The key is to get quality, fresh, ripe versions of the ingredients...believe me, you can taste the difference! We'll start with the Fresh Tomato Salsa. You'll want to start with vibrant red, firm tomatoes. Too soft and you're salsa will end up with way too much of the seedy liquid from the inside of the tomatoes than you want. Get some fresh cilantro and be sure to give it a sniff to make sure you haven't grabbed its close cousin, parsley, which can be a common mistake....even for one of this blog's writers. I won't name names or anything.....but it wasn't me.....and there's only two of us.....so....yeah ;)

Ingredients:
(serves 4-to-6)

• 4 Tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 White Onion, diced
• 2 oz. Fresh Cilantro, chopped
• 3 Limes (or 2 tbsp. lime juice)
• 1 tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1/2 tbsp. Garlic, chopped or minced
• 2 tsp. Garlic Salt (regular Salt is OK)
• 2 tsp. Lemon Pepper (Black Pepper will work too)

1. Dice tomatoes and onions, chop cilantro and add all to a medium-size bowl.
2. Stir in olive oil, garlic, garlic salt and lemon pepper.
3. Squeeze limes through a strainer (to keep any seeds from making their way into the bowl....not a problem if using the lime juice...just add that in at this point).
4. Stir salsa very well and then refrigerate for about 30-60 minutes to let flavors marinate.

If you like a little kick, Step 2 is where you can add some crushed red pepper or cayenne pepper to spice it up! Start with 1/2 tsp. and work the spice level up because you can always go up in heat level, but good luck trying to go down ;) You may very well have to start over if you get heavy handed with the spicy stuff.

I like to serve my Fresh Tomato Salsa the same day it's made so that the tomatoes and onions are at their freshest and firmest. The salsa can be refrigerated and still good for 3-to-5 days, but the oil and lime juice will soften the ingredients, as well as the tomatoes will continue to release liquid.....so it will be a different consistency. Don't get me wrong....that's the type of salsa some prefer and if it's your favorite, go right ahead. Salsa is a lot like a pasta sauce....you're are ultimately making it to your own taste. So play around and come up with the combinations that are the tastiest to you!

Now....on to the Guacamole! Guacamole is one of my all-time favorite appetizer/snack items but it also one that has many different versions. So I do not profess to make a particularly revolutionary guacamole that's indistinguishable from all others. I just keep it simple and make it the way I like it. Really, all I want to provide is some guidance and if you do not have a particular guacamole recipe to follow, maybe this can be it. Personally, I like a slightly creamy guacamole with a few chunky bits left in and that has a good helping of fresh tomato in there too! In fact, it is very much like my salsa, with a few very slight modifications and the addition of ripe avocados. Have a hard time knowing what a good ripe avocado is like? Here's how I test....

If you take your hand and make a fist (with your thumb not placed inside your curled fingers) and touch the area of skin between your forefinger and thumb, that's how a ripe avocado should feel...i.e. soft to the touch but not squishy. If you relax your hand touch the same spot, you can tell the difference and you want the avocado to feel like the former. Soft enough that you can make an impression (too hard and you will never be able to mash the avocado into the proper consistency), but not too soft that it doesn't take any effort.

Ingredients:
(serves 4-to-6)

• 4 Avocados, diced
• 1/2 tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1 Tomato, diced
• 1/4 White Onion, diced
• 2 oz. Fresh Cilantro, chopped
• 2 Limes (or 1 tbsp. Lime Juice)
• 1/2 tbsp. Garlic, chopped or minced
• 3 tsp. Garlic Salt
• 3 tsp. Lemon Pepper
• 1 tsp. Cumin
• 1 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper

 1. Cut the avocados in half, lengthwise, and remove the pits. Take a spoon and scoop out the insides (ripe avocados shouldn't put up much of a fight at all) into a medium-size bowl and discard the peels. If you want to cut down on the time to spend on mashing the avocados, dice the halves of avocados into 1 inch pieces first.
2. Add the olive oil to the avocados to facilitate the mashing and to enhance the creamy textures of the avocados. Take a fork and mash the avocados for about 1 minute, breaking down all of the large pieces. I like to maintain a few chunky bits so I don't mash them all the way, but feel free to if that's your taste. Or, if you like a particularly chunky version, mash for only 30 seconds and feel free to omit or halve the olive oil. I leave some chunks but the olive oil helps keep the finished product smooth even so.
3. Dice the tomatoes and onions and add to the bowl along with chopped cilantro.
4. Squeeze in limes through a strainer to catch seeds (or add lime juice directly).
5. Add garlic salt, lemon pepper, cumin, and crushed red pepper (increase red pepper if you want to add spicy notes.....the 1/2 tsp is more for flavor than heat).
6. Use a spoon to stir the guacamole, stirring in the spices, tomatoes, onion, and cilantro until well incorporated and the guacamole is the consistency you desire.
7. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

There you have it...fantastically delicious, easy-to-homemake guacamole!

If you have any leftover avocados that have been sliced open, sprinkle some lemon or lime juice on them and wrap in saran wrap to keep them from turning brown. Just be sure to use them within a day or two.

These dishes are great as an appetizer or for your next outdoor summer BBQ! Easily prepared, popular, and yummy!

 If you are cooking at home and want to go the distance with the Mexican theme, I paired these with an easy to grill skirt steak marinated in salt, pepper, paprika, lemon juice and cilantro! Just set that baby on the grill or in a pan for 3-4 minutes per side with some mushrooms and onions, slice thin and you've got all the makings for some terrific fajitas!