Meche’s Guacamole

My first high school French teacher had a tremendous impact on my future. She was a young woman just out of college whose name I do not recall, but she was determined to teach us at least a little about French language and culture. I think that she taught the class both years I studied the language at Hayward High School. Now after 56 years I am finally getting around to thanking her.

Before that class, my knowledge of French was confined to the nursery rhyme, “Frère Jacques” and some exclamations by Pierre in “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon.” Her patience and persistence made it possible for me to struggle through articles written in French when I was a college student and gave me the courage to take and squeak through the Graduate Record Examination in French when I desperately needed the language certification.

But she deserves an even bigger thank you for introducing me to avocados and chocolate mousse. One day she brought a box of crackers and two strange-looking fruits to class. They were avocats, she told us, the same word we had learned meant a lawyer. Avocat is the French word for avocado.

She peeled and mashed the two avocados and spread the green stuff on the crackers. We left class that day with a new word and a better understanding of why the French used the same word for lawyers and an oily fruit with a tough skin. To be honest, not all the crackers got eaten that day. I liked the flavor, however, and a few years later was enjoying avocados regularly as a college student.

Our French teacher had much better success with the chocolate mousse demonstration. Working with the home economics teacher, she folded mounds of beaten egg whites into a chocolate sauce. My mother folded egg whites into lots of things, but our French teacher that day not only showed us how to fold the whites into the chocolate but also explained why folding worked: Stirring would break up more of the the air bubbles in the whites that made the mousse so light and fluffy. The bowl was empty when we finished class that day and we had learned a new French word, mousse, which means foam.

I was in college when I learned a wonderful way to enjoy avocados–as the main ingredient in guacamole, a dish invented by the Aztecs, and I liked it from day one. The best guacamole I have ever eaten was made by Meche, the wife of my fishing partner’s younger brother. Meche is from Mexico, and I tried to get her recipe for several years without success. Then at a holiday gathering I took a photo that she wanted. I told her that I would trade the photo for the recipe. Two days later we made the exchange.

Here is how Meche makes guacamole.

INGREDIENTS:

2 large avocados
1/4 cup finely chopped tomato
2 T lime juice
2 T grated onion
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1 – 2 T finely chopped jalapeño
1/4 cup sour cream

PROCEDURE:

Since avocados, like apples, start turning brown as soon as they are cut, I like to have all the ingredients ready before I cut into the avocados.

Peel and mince very finely about two tablespoons of onion. Wash, remove the seeds and white membrane from a jalapeño pepper and chop it finely to about an eighth inch dice. Wash, remove the pulp and seeds from a tomato and chop it finely. Wash a lime and have the juicer ready.

Rinse the avocados and cut them in half lengthwise by slicing around the seed in each. Twist the halves slightly to separate them and remove the two seeds. The easiest way to do this is to chop into the seed with a chef or butcher knife, twist and lift out the seed. Use a teaspoon to scoop the flesh from the peel into a medium bowl.

Mash the avocados with a fork. Squeeze the lime and stir in two tablespoons lime juice along with the salt, tomato, onion and jalapeño. Add the sour cream and mix well. Let the guacamole rest for two or three minutes, then taste and adjust the lime juice and seasoning. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Serve with good tortilla chips or as a condiment for hamburgers.

NOTES: One of the secrets to great guacamole is starting with perfectly ripe avocados. Ripe fruits are purplish green and the peel gives slightly when you press gently on it. Unripe avocados will ripen at home. Just check them daily. I often use three medium sized avocados when the fruit are not as large as usual.

If you or your guests are sensitive to spicy foods, start with just one tablespoon of chopped jalapeño and add more after tasting. Meche says you can also substitute green bell pepper for the jalapeño.

Meche has since told me that I should add some chopped cilantro and garlic powder to the guacamole. I’ll try it soon.

Cabin Wheat Bread

People in my parent’s generation learned to “make do.” If they didn’t have enough sugar, they used molasses to sweeten cookies and cakes. If they ran out of shortening, they used bacon grease or chicken fat to make pie crusts and biscuits. When kids tore holes in their clothes or broke their toys, mothers and fathers patched and fixed things until they were “almost good as new.”

Jerri subscribes to the “make do” school of thought even more than I do. One Sunday afternoon at the cabin when I discovered that there was not enough white flour to finish the bread I had started, she looked up from the book she was reading and said, “There’s some whole wheat flour in the cabinet. Make do.”

And I did. Since I had intended to make white bread, I substituted just enough whole wheat flour to make the dough. The result was more than satisfactory, and our friends enjoy it when they visit.

The whole wheat adds a little more fiber and gives the bread the nutty flavor we associate with whole grain flours. This bread keeps well and is very good toasted.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/4 cups water
1 package or 2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 cup milk
2 T butter
2 T sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 to 2 cups whole wheat flour
4 to 5 cups all purpose white flour

PROCEDURE:

Put 1/4 cup warm water (90º to 115º) in a cup with 1/4 tsp. sugar and stir in the yeast. While the yeast is proofing, warm the milk and butter until the milk steams and the butter is melted. Pour the hot milk into a large mixing bowl and stir in the sugar and salt.

Allow the milk and butter to cool a few minutes, then add a cup of cold water and stir in a cup of white flour, a cup of whole wheat flour and another cup of white flour. Stir thoroughly after each cup of flour is added.

Check the temperature of the batter by dropping a little on the inside of your wrist. If it feels cool or only slightly warm, add the yeast and stir it in well. Depending on your preference, add a half or a full cup of whole wheat flour and enough white flour to make a dough that begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Tip it out on to a well floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and satiny. Return it to a greased bowl, turn it to cover the dough lightly with grease, and cover the bowl with a damp towel.

Let the dough rise until it has doubled in bulk. Tip it onto a lightly floured surface and and knead it for five or six turns, then divide it in half, form two loaves and place them in greased pans. Cover them with a damp towel and set them in a warm draft-free spot to rise.

While the loaves are rising preheat the oven to 400º.

When the dough has risen slightly above the tops of the pans, put them on the center rack in the hot oven.   After ten minutes, reduce the heat to 350º and bake approximately 25 minutes longer.

When the 25 minutes are up, tip the loaves out of the pans and tap them on the bottom. If the loaves sound hollow, the bread is done. If not, let them bake directly on the oven rack another five minutes, then remove them from the oven and cool them on a wire rack.

NOTES: You can make one loaf and a pan of wonderful dinner rolls with this recipe as well. Just roll out half of the dough to about a half inch thick, cut it into 12 equal pieces and form the rolls. Place the rolls in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan and put the pan in with the loaf of bread. The rolls should be lightly browned and done in 15 or 20 minutes.