Feasting before the Rome derby

Dylan came home for a surprise visit this weekend so we could watch the Rome derby together this morning (a sweet 2-0 Roma victory) and binge-watch Star Wars movies before the new one comes out next month. Last night, I threw together an impromptu dinner for Dylan and Andi, who joined us, too. We had guacamole, Spaghetti all'Amatriciana (with house-made pancetta from the Timbercreek Market), and "Boring" Apple Cake.

Dylan said it was the best guac he's ever had, which made my whole day. (And he didn't tell me I have a bald spot.) The key to this recipe is making a paste out of onion, cilantro, chile, and salt, which coats the avocado, so that "every bite starts with a pop of heat, salt, and herbs, and ends with the mellow, buttery flesh of the" avocado, as Roberto Santibañez says in describing his recipe. I've made the paste successfully with a chef's knife, but it works a lot better with the big-ass granite mortar and pestle I got for my birthday this year. By the time you're done pounding the ingredients with that thing, you really do have a paste. Plus, it's fun, you get an arm workout, and you have a conversation piece to serve your guacamole in.

Guacamole

Adapted from Truly Mexican (2011) by Roberto Santibañez (you can also see the original recipe on Food52)

Time: ~17 minutes

Santibañez explains that the Mexican way to chop cilantro is to start at the stem end and cut off the first two inches of the stems. Then chop your way up toward and through the leaves, making the cuts ⅛-inch apart and using your free hand to keep the leaves close together as you chop.

2 tablespoons (~20 grams) finely chopped white onion
1 tablespoon minced fresh serrano or jalapeño chile (~1 two-inch chile), including seeds, or more to taste
½ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ cup (10 grams) chopped cilantro, divided (see note)
3 medium (about 8 ounces each) ripe but firm Hass avocados
a squeeze or two of lime

    1. Mash the onion, chile, salt, and half of the cilantro to a paste using a mortar and pestle. You can also make the paste by using a large chef's knife to mince and mash the ingredients together on a cutting board. If you use that method, transfer the paste to a small bowl when you're done.
    2. Halve each avocado lengthwise with a large chef's knife. Carefully whack the knife into the pit, twist the knife, then lift and remove the pit and push it off the knife from the blunt side. Use a knife to score the flesh of the avocados with ¾-inch cross-hatch incisions, cutting down to but not through the skin. You can see how to halve, pit, and chop an avocado in this video. Use a large spoon to scoop the flesh out of the avocados and add the chunks to the mortar or the bowl. Gently but thoroughly fold the avocado into the paste, leaving the avocado in large chunks. Add the rest of the cilantro and mix gently. Don't mash it to mush, it should be chunky! Squeeze some lime juice over the top and stir gently. Taste and adjust for additional lime juice, chile, and/or salt. Serve with tortilla chips.