Guest Recipe: Goat Cheese Guacamole
Living in Arizona, we thought we’d perfected the classic guacamole recipe. Avocados, tomatoes, lime, cilantro, spices… easy, right? Not so fast. Leave it to our good friend and blogger extraordinaire, Jeran at Oleander + Palm to show us what we were missing from our classic guac. Enter goat cheese for extra creaminess and seasoned pepitas for a little crunch. We added some Hatch Green Chile Salt for an extra kick and a little white onion too. This is the guacamole recipe to top all others.
Adapted and shared with permission from Oleander + Palm
Takes: 15 minutes
Makes 2.5 cups or one large serving bowl
3-4 large avocados
1/2 cup fresh chopped cilantro
juice of two limes (or lemon)
3-4 garlic cloves
Freshly-cracked pepper
2 tbsp hot sauce (We’re fans of Gringo Bandito or Cutino Chipotle)
1 jalapeno seeded and diced
1/4 cup finely diced white onion
4-6 oz chevre or goat cheese (cut into 1/2 inch chunks)
1/4 cup roasted pepitas (also known as pumpkin seeds, but no white shell)
In a large bowl, peel and pit the avocados. Using a fork or potato masher, mash up the avocados. Add the all the ingredients except the goat cheese and pepitas and mix well. Gently fold in the goat cheese and pepitas. We like it ‘“rustic-style,” so feel free to leave some chunks of the cheese. Add a few more pepitas to the top and serve with tortilla chips.
Cook's notes: You can buy roasted pepitas at Trader Joe’s and many chain grocery stores. But, it’s more fun to make your own and super simple!
Pick up some raw pumpkin seeds at your local grocery store (make sure you get ones with no skins - pepitas do not have shells like a traditional pumpkin seed does). To roast, place them in a cast iron skillet and cook over medium constantly stirring to avoid burning. We prefer a dry roast so just add the pumpkin seeds and nothing else. After they start to crack and pop, roast 1-2 more minutes. Don’t take your eye off of them as they can burn very easily! The whole process should take about 5-8 minutes. Once roasted, toss them with a little olive oil and more Hatch Green Chile Salt - don’t be shy! Then, fold the roasted pumpkin seeds into the guac and save some to sprinkle on top too. Make 1/2 cup if you want to save some for snacking! I can guarantee you will.
