For me cooking is a labor of love. But as much as I enjoy spending an entire Saturday sourcing a ton of ingredients from around the city so I can then spend my entire Sunday cooking them— I’ll admit it, it’s exhausting work for such a short-lived payoff. And no matter how you slice’em, leftovers are just not the same. So we remind ourselves that sometimes it’s allowed, nice even, to make like a Sandra Lee and leave… I mean take a shortcut in the kitchen. Some may call that, “being lazy” (I usually do), but others would call it efficient, which is certainly less shameful.

So it should be no surprise that we at EPJ are always looking for ways to save time during prep and cooking. The only rule we have is that the shortcut can’t compromise the final product’s taste and quality. Besides, indolent individuals like me would argue the art of “efficient cooking” is how entertaining should be? They think we should be tricking our guests into thinking we’ve slaved away in the kitchen for hours when in fact we were gyming it up and getting mani-pedis just before, “dinner’s served!” That’s the perk of being a host, right? I guess it’s actually guilting guests instead of tricking them, but let’s not get bogged down in semantics here.

The reality is that the best timesaving tricks are hard to come by. A “true kitchen shortcut,” one that isn’t going to leave you stressing about whether you stressed enough or not to make it, has to be both simple and fast. So you can imagine our shock, stumbling on such a corner-cutting technique at a barbecue thrown by Ambler and Ben, new friends of ours in the Bay Area. Don’t get me wrong, we learned quickly of their amazing talents in the kitchen after they brought a magnificent mushroom bruschetta to our Sangiovese dinner party, and then hosted an equally delicious Spanish paella party soon thereafter. I mean they’re totally respectable foodies. But they’d just come from DC, and I would never in a million years have guessed any two Caucasian transplants to San Francisco via Washington would be at all familiar cooking Mexican cuisine, especially the art of making thick and chunky homemade guacamole from scratch. Because, for those of you who haven’t experienced this firsthand, our Nation’s capital has some amazing food (visit DC food posts Farmers Fishers & Bakers, Rasika Modern Indian Cuisine or Pearl Diving in DC), but what it doesn’t have is good Mexican cuisine. Spanish? No problema thanks to José Andrés’ Jaleo. Mexican? No so much-ah, most likely thanks to the ultra conservatives on Capitol Hill who think we need a fence around the country. But I digress.

So in spite of the fact that whole organic avocados cost nearly triple in DC what they do in California and the fact that most DCers get little exposure to scrumptious guacamole, Ambler and Ben told me the timesaving secret to their super simple homemade guacamole recipe– soaking the ingredients in the lime juice overnight. And just like that, with each new dip of my salty tortilla chips into that bright cilantro and lime guacamole, a sliver of hope developed for my foodie brethren trapped in the Mexican’t metropolis that sits at the helm of our great nation.

Mexican Starter for Guacamole, Pico de Gallo, Marinades and More

Again, I want to say a big “thank you,” to Ambler and Ben for giving me this idea. I thought your guacamole was not only bright and fresh, but every bite had a mix of all the ingredients, which is hard to achieve with good guacamole. As I was making this limejuice, garlic, red onion, and jalapeno relish, I realized the same ingredients could be used in a variety of ways. This got me thinking about the concept of a “Mexican starter.” This relish (aka Mexican Starter) could easily be made once, and then be used to create a variety of elements to be used harmoniously over the course of a meal.

The Mexican Starter can be added by the spoonful to mashed avocados to make creamy, delicious, and light homemade guacamole, and it can be added to diced tomatoes for a simple and clean Pico de Gallo. The Mexican Starter can also be used as a delicious marinade for shrimp (or any protein really) or if blended up with some olive oil, a fantastic Mexican inspired salad dressing.

And that’s where the concept of “Two Dishes Once Cup” came from. From one cup of Mexican Starter comes a variety of dishes– only I didn’t think it was such a good idea to bring up the original concept I’d rifted from…. whoops, I just did. Holy guacamole!

The Mexican Starter

Ingredients:

• ½ medium red onion finely diced
• 4 medium limes juiced
• 1 large jalapeno
• 4 medium-large garlic cloves minced
• ¼ tsp ground cumin
• salt & pepper to taste
• *1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)

Remove the top of the jalapeno and slice it in half. Remove the white ribs and seeds inside, and then cut the jalapeno into thin strips and then finely dice it further.

 

Combine the diced jalapeno and the rest of the above ingredients in a small bowl (I used my glass Pyrex measuring cup because it was clean), season with salt and pepper and needed, and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours. This can be done the night before too.

This is what I’m calling the Mexican Starter. After sitting for few hours in the acidic lime juice, the flavors of the various ingredients will be well married. The heat from the jalapeno will also soften, so if you like things caliente (aka HOT!), then you can add the cayenne pepper. More or less than the teaspoon depending on your scoville tolerance.

You can see from the picture below, that the juice has been absorbed by the garlic, jalapeno and onions and it’s now pink instead of light green.

Holly Homemade Guacamole

Ingredients:

• 3 avocados
• 2 heaping tblsp of the Mexican Starter
• ¼ cup fresh chopped cilantro
• Salt & pepper to taste

This is delicious homemade guacamole recipe.

Cut the avocados in half by running your knife around the avocado pits from the top to the bottom (the long way) and then twist the two halves around the pit until they come apart. With a single whacking motion try and hit the middle of the avocado pit with the knife blade in a single firm (but not too firm) stroke.

With the blade wedged in the pit, twist the knife and loosen the pit until it slides out of the avocado half. This is the easiest way to maintain the integrity of your avocados when you’re making homemade guacamole.

With an avocado half palmed in one hand, score the flesh of the avocado with a knife, taking care not to penetrate the skin of the avocado, which is the only thing protecting your hand. I like to make a grid with the knife like this.

Then use a spoon to scoop out the avocado flesh into a medium bowl. This will make mashing the guacamole easier, because you will have already diced the avocado. Then with the back of a fork, roughly mash the avocado, leaving some chunks, because super smooth guacamole screams, “store bought!”

Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl with the avocado, and mix everything together. Add the discarded avocado pits to the newly formed guacamole, because they’ll help prevent the guacamole from oxidizing and turning brown.

Homemade Pico de Gallo (tomato salsa)

Ingredients:

• 2 large ripe tomatoes
• 3 heaping tblsp of the Mexican Starter
• ¼ cup fresh chopped cilantro
• Salt & pepper to taste

Dice your tomatoes into ¼ inch pieces.

Combine tomatoes with the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl. And that’s it! Talk about easiest way to make delicious Pico de Gallo!

This can be eaten immediately, but if you let it rest for at least 30 minutes or more in the fridge, the tomatoes will have a chance to really soak up the flavors of the Mexican Starter.

Grilled Shrimp in a Honey Cilantro Lime Marinade

Ingredients:

• 12 jumbo shrimp (raw, peeled w/tails on, deveined & butterflied)
• 2 heaping tblsp of the Mexican Starter
• 1 tblsp fresh chopped cilantro
• 1 tsp honey
• 1 tblsp olive oil
• Salt & pepper to taste

Run your knife along the back of the shrimp (where it’s been deveined) and open them up a little more as you pull away from the tail.

Aside from the shrimp, whisk all the ingredients in a small bowl until the honey is evenly distributed and dissolved. Once combined, toss in the cleaned raw shrimp and coat with the marinade.

Let the shrimp marinate for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator before cooking them on a barbecue grill or on the stovetop in a large cast iron skillet that’s smoking hot!

Grilled Shrimp Tacos

Wrap your tortillas in aluminum foil and throw them on the grill to warm up. If you’re cooking inside then just wrap the tortillas in damp paper towels and warm them gently in the microwave.

On the heated tortilla, place your lettuce or cabbage, then the shrimp pieces, and then top it with a spoonful (or two) of each: the Pico de Gallo, and the homemade guacamole.

I happened to have some roasted corn salad leftover from a previous meal, so I added that too.

Tid Bits:

• You can add this starter to roasted corn off the cob to create a corn salsa.
• You can add mangos or peaches to your tomatoes and used the starter to make a variety of different salsas and salad dressings.
• The shrimp will curl up when they’re done cooking. After they’ve rested for a minute or two, it should be easy to remove the tails.
• Some guacamole lovers like the look and taste of a few tomatoes scattered about in their avocado ambrosia. You can easily add a spoonful of the Pico de Gallo to your guacamole if you’d like.

Check out our previous post titled Polly the Pot Brownie Pusher or our next post titled The Year Long Foie Gras Fast

Related posts:

• Tequila Shrimp Tacos with Avocado Black Bean & Corn Salsa
• Fatherhood 101: The Efficient Spanking

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