Unique guacamole recipe relies on lemons, serrano peppers, chunky avocado

On arriving in the West at the home of our son, we were escorted to his backyard citrus grove and invited to pick from the trees. Lemons practically the size of basketballs spilled from our arms as we plucked the fruit and toted them away. I’ve never hacked into a single lemon and procured enough juice from one to make an entire container of lemonade, but such were the properties of these monster yellow orbs. Texas isn’t the only state in which things grow king-sized.

To find usages for these whopper lemons I pulled out a recipe from a recent Prevention magazine. It featured cooking ideas from actress Eva Longoria. Her pet recipe for Chunky Guacamole with Serrano Peppers called for lemon juice instead of the traditional lime juice for guacamole. To create the 1/2 cup of lemon juice for this guacamole dish I was amply supplied.

Native Texan Longoria was quoted as saying that avocados left chunky instead of mashing them up smooth makes a better salad and that serrano peppers give it a greater kick than the usual jalapenos do. No mayonnaise or sour cream are added, as sometimes occurs with guacamole. The flavors of the avocados, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, serrano pepper, and lemon juice stand on their own.

A tip: leaving one peeled avocado pit pressed into the center of the salad mixture prevents the guacamole from turning brown. I tried this; it really works! The next morning after having been left overnight in the fridge the avocado chunks still were bright green.

This lemon-spiked treat is wonderful with tortilla chips as an appetizer or as a garnish on top of a steak or (as we used it) atop grilled salmon.

Chunky Guacamole with Serrano Peppers

6 avocados, roughly chopped

4 medium tomatoes, chopped

1/2 large white onion, finely chopped

2 teaspoons salt (or salt substitute)

1 cup chopped cilantro (from 1 bunch)

1 serrano chile pepper, finely chopped

enough juice squeezed from fresh lemons to make 1/2 cup

Into a large bowl put avocados, tomatoes, onion, salt, cilantro, pepper, and lemon juice. Stir gently until ingredients are well combined. Makes 8 cups.