It seems that most of my best menu planning recently has spontaneously occurred while stretching after spin class. I'm not sure why that is, but it seems that everytime I go to spin class on Sunday afternoon I come home with a bunch of new ideas for dinner and/or lunch. For example, the Char Siu Noodle Soup that I made last weekend and the Sping Chicken Soup with Matzo Balls were both post-spin class ideas, as were this guacamole and the red snapper tacos that I served it with. As I was sprawled on the rubber mat at Equinox yesterday I kept thinking about the number of avocados (4) we had in the apartment. I bought the avocados for a salad we made a few days ago and we had a ton left that I didn't want to go to waste. The logical conclusion was that we needed to make some guacamole. I already had a recipe in mind for Sunday lunch, but I decided to scrap it (or save it for dinner) and make some guacamole instead. The guacamole that immediately came to mind was a version we had at La Condesa in Austin, Texas that included queso fresco, pomegranate molasses and pomegranate seeds. It sounded like an odd combination but it was really tasty. And then I thought, ok, let's make some guacamole with pomegranate seeds and serve it with fish tacos (more on the tacos later). Since we had a bunch of mangos left over in the apartment from a recent trip to Whole Foods, I decided that I would make a mango salsa to serve with the fish tacos. Then I stumbled across this recipe and decided that rather than make a mango salsa for the tacos and a pomegranate guacamole for the appetizer, why not make a mango, pomegranate guacamole and kill two birds with one stone? Perfect!
I think that this guacamole was a fun variation on traditional guacamole. I liked the bursts of sweetness from the mango and the pomegranate seeds. Alex can't make homemade guacamole without a pinch of ground cumin (it's kind of his thing) so he threw some in while I was putting together the fish tacos. I still think that the pomegranate guacamole we had at La Condesa was better so the next time I start jonesing for some pomegranate guacamole I will try to recreate that one. But if I were to have people over and offer up a guacamole and salsa bar with several versions of each (maybe for Cinco de Mayo), this one was totally interesting enough make the line up.
Adapted from Gourmet
November 2008
INGREDIENTS:
3 ripe avocados
2/3 cup red onion, minced
1 1/2 fresh serrano chiles, minced, including seeds
1/4 cup fresh lime juice, or to taste
salt
pinch ground cumin
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
1/2 cup mango, diced and peeled
1/3 cup cilantro
Halve, pit, and peel avocados. Coarsely mash in a bowl. Stir in onion, chiles, 1/4 cup lime juice, and 1 1/2 tsp salt and cumin, then fold in pomegranate seeds, mango, and cilantro. Season with additional salt lime juice to taste.
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