Dani filled me in on the secret ingredient!

Dani, a dark-haired black eyed, dutiful beauty, came to Cambridge to study English so that she could please her large family and get into Harvard Law School. They must not have realized her English skills were so basic and that to twirl around in the halls of Harvard Law required a quickness of tongue that Dani wasn’t going to learn in two months or two years.  Her personality was more suited to human rights and labor law–which her well-to-do family didn’t want her to pursue– and she was dedicated to Mexico, her home country.  Dani couldn’t understand why her aunts, uncles, grandparents and cousins raved about the United States.  “I don’t like it here. I don’t like the language. No matter how hard I study I do not get it”

She did like our family and was a gentle presence. One afternoon we had lunch together.  Dani was as clearly disgusted to see what I was eating as I am when I watch my husband eat cantaloupe chunks floating in oatmeal. “You’re going to get sick,” she said.  I was eating ‘Avocado alla Roberta.’  “It’s too heavy.”  Expressing concern, she rubbed her abdomen.

“What?  Don’t you eat avocado day and night in Mexico?” I asked.

“Yes.  Only a slice.  A slice in soup.  A slice on the side of the plate next to chicken.”  She wrinkled her nose.  “Never like that.” She pointed to the beautiful creamy green resting on a bed of lettuce.

“Guacamole?” I pressed a spoonful of deliciously ripe avocado against the roof of my mouth, enjoying the rich taste and sensuousness of the food.

She winked. “In my family we have a secret.  When we make guacamole we add milk.”

In Dani’s family, they don’t dip chips or crudite in guacamole.  They put a sensible spoonful of it on the plate next to meat.  They add a tablespoon to a tortilla. They make a sandwich with a layer of guacamole, a lice of melted cheese.

Here’s the family recipe

SECRET GUACAMOLE

Tools- a rock and stone bowl to mash and mix the guacamole.  (You can use a Japanese suribachi, or a wooden bowl and rock)

I  serrano chile, dry or fresh

salt to taste

2 avocado

a few squeezes of lime juice ( about 1 1/2 teaspoons)

1-2 Tablespoons of milk

Put the chile in the bowl and mash it with the rock. Add salt to your taste. (We don’t use much salt here) grind the salt into the chile.  Sprinkle with a little lime and grind the lime into the mixture.  Add two peeled avocados.  Mash and mix into the chile.  Taste and adjust the salt if needed.  Add a few more squeezes of lime.  Stir with a spoon.  Add 1 Tablespoon of  milk, using more if you want a smoother texture.

Dani’s family serves cut onions and hot peppers on the side. Each person can spice or onion up the guacamole as they please.