Citrus Guacamole

No matter the outcome of the game, this citrus guacamole is always a winner!

Our favorite guacamole has always been the classic, with avocado, onion, chili, cilantro, and lime juice. However, our guac game changed after having kale guacamole at True Food Kitchen in Newport Beach.

Here’s our interpretation of True Food Kitchen’s fun and healthy guacamole.

The star of this starter is the avocado. Choose avocados that are not too firm, but also not too ripe. Make sure you give them a gentle squeeze before purchasing.

Mise en Place

Making cooking easy is a breeze when you have your mise en place…everything ready.

For the guac, segment a grapefruit and an orange.

To segment, cut the top and bottom off the fruit. This way, it will sit flat on the cutting board. Using downward strokes, cut the skin away from the flesh. Remove any remaining white pith. Without cutting all the way through, but just to the center, cut between the membranes to segment the fruit.

Chop each segment into 3 – 4 pieces.

Chili Choices

Choose your favorite chili to add some heat. You can seed and mince a jalapeño pepper. How about pickled jalapeños? Hot sauce also adds pizazz to guac. We roasted and chopped a poblano pepper along with a minced jalapeño pepper. The options are endless.

To roast a poblano pepper, hold the pepper with tongs and slowly rotate over a gas flame until charred on all sides. Place in a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap until cool, about 30 minutes. Peel the skin, remove the seeds, finely chop and set aside.

Soaking Onions

For the onion, you can use red, white, or yellow. Finely chop the onion and soak in ice water for at least 15 minutes.

Onions are soaked in ice water to mellow their flavor. The cold water keeps the onion super crunchy, while the sulfur compounds that give onion its pungent, harsh flavor will dissipate in the water.

Kale

Wash and clean the leaves to remove any grit. To remove the stems you can either take a small knife and cut each side of the stem and remove or simply grab the leaves with your hand and pull the stem away in the opposite direction.

Place kale in a steaming basket and set in a large saucepan with about 2-inches of boiling water. Cover and steam kale until wilted, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and when cool, squeeze dry, chop and set aside.

To Assemble

Slice the avocados in half, around the pit. Remove the pit. Slice the avocados while still in the shell. Scoop the avocado with a spoon into a medium bowl.

Lightly smash avocados and lime juice with a potato masher, fork, or molcajete until coarsely mashed.

Add kale, grapefruit and oranges, chile, onion, cilantro, and cumin. Mix until incorporated.

Can I make this guacamole in advance?

Like most dishes with avocado, the fresher the better. If you’d like to prepare the guacamole ahead of time, press a layer of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole so no air is touching the dip and store in the fridge.

We put guac on just about everything…nachos, tacos and fajitas, salads, bagels or toast, omelets, sandwiches and so much more!

What’s not to like about guacamole? It’s creamy, satisfying, and packed with oh-so-good-for-you fat!