On the Menu:

Salsa and Guacamole

In the light of our last cooking class we visited the Garden Project farm and taught some excited students the ways of making a cool, healthy, and easy snack that is perfect for game days, barbecues, or just relaxing at home. The first group helped make the guacamole which consisted of relatively few ingredients.

The Process

While students cut some onions, cilantro, and jalapeños, others juiced some limes and peeled some avocados. QUICK TIP: Avocados tend to oxidize quickly, so to keep the green color add a little extra lime juice and quickly cover with plastic wrap. 

Depending on how much heat you please you can add more jalapeños for a nice burn on the tongue. If you do end up putting in a little too much heat, do not fret, add lime juice (due to the acid from the lime the heat will mellow out). After all the ingredients are in the bowl season with some salt and pepper and mix, and you are done. Overall the first part of this two-part snack took just about 15 minutes.

Now, onto the salsa, take note of the proportion of each ingredient, so you get everything in each bite. Different from other pico de gallos, we added some mango for some zingy flavor profiles. Another little addition that was added were yellow cherry tomatoes. These tart little tomatoes add some yellow with the red of the regular tomatoes. Finally, dice all the ingredients in the same size relatively, so that each ingredient will be in each bite.

Get all the ingredients in a nice large bowl and mix everything together. It’s that simple! Season and taste, and you’re done!

 

RECIPE

Ingredients Needed: (Depends on portion size)

 

Avocados

Tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes

Red (or white) onions

Jalapeños (make sure to get the seeds out)

Cilantro

Lime

Mango

Salt

Pepper

For the salsa:

Step 1 : Start by dicing the tomatoes (both cherry and regular), onions, jalapeños, and mango. Roll your cilantro into a bunch and chop finely, stems included.

Step 2: Add all of them together, season with salt, pepper, and lime juice.

Step 3: Mix, taste, if everything is tasty, it is ready to serve.

For the Guacamole:

Step 1: Finely dice onions and jalapeños, and chop the cilantro finely.

Step 2: Peel and pit avocados and using a spoon scrape all the good stuff out.

Step 3: After mash the avocados, using the back of a spoon, and when the avocados reach the classic guacamole consistency add the other ingredients in and season.

Step 4: Get some tortilla chips and enjoy!

Happy Cooking!