Weekend Cooking...Rosa Mexicano's Guacamole

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When we made our recent trip to Washington D.C. we had to make a trip to the Bro and Sil's favorite restaurant, Rosa Mexicano.
In fact, we made two trips! The original restaurant was in NYC...and they have been there many times...but they seem to have a special fondness for the one in D.C, since, although it is about a three hour drive away, they have been there enough to have a favorite waiter who knows how they like their margaritas.
Now there have a total of 16 restaurants all over the US and one in Panama, so maybe the Bro and Sil need to do a Rosa Mexicano tour!.

This is him, The favorite waiter, José!
Sadly, for us, Jose will be moving back home to Mexico in April to finish his degree.
Good luck!

I had the same dishes both times we were there this time.
I started with the soup, "Sopa De Tortilla tortilla soup...pasilla chile, grilled chicken, avocado and crema". Then I went on to the "Pollo chicken taco "skillet style", with slow-cooked peppers, melted chihuahua cheese and chile de árbol salsa", It is served with warm, homemade little corn tottilla, a baked corn dish and chili beans.

But, of course, we started with a dish that Rosa Mexicano is very well known for, it's Guacamole En Molcajete served with salsa and more of those warm little corn tortillas, made at your table in a traditional lava stone bowl. Oh look, they sell them online....

"Over the years at Rosa Mexicano, we have run through so many avocados for guacamole that if you placed them side by side they would stretch from New York to Tierra del Fuego and back—maybe twice!
It is our signature dish—nine out of ten guests order it. One thing that makes the guacamole at Rosa Mexicano so special is that we were among the first, if not the first, restaurant on either side of the border to serve guacamole prepared tableside in a traditional molcajete.

We are frequently asked what makes our guacamole so special. For one, we take great care in preparing the chile paste that is the underpinning of the dish—that’s where the layered flavors come from. We begin by grinding some onions, chiles, and cilantro together in a molcajete. Then we gently toss in cubed avocado so that every piece is coated evenly."

When you order the guacamole, they come to your table with their cart and make it to order. Do you like it mild, medium or hot? Decide and you are on you way to a delicious dish.

Rosa Mexicano's Guacamole
Makes 4 servings

Chile Paste Ingredients:

1 tablespoon finely chopped white onion

1 firmly packed tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

2 teaspoons finely chopped jalapeño, or more to taste

1 teaspoon salt, or as needed

Additional Ingredients:

3 medium ripe but firm Hass avocados (about 8 ounces each)

3 tablespoons diced tomato

2 firmly packed tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon finely chopped white onion

Salt if necessary

Tortilla chips and/or fresh corn tortillas 

1. Grind 1 tbsp. finely chopped white onion, 1 firmly packed tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro, 2 tsp. finely chopped jalapeño, and 1 tsp. salt together in a molcajete until all the ingredients are well ground. (Alternatively, use a fork to mash the ingredients to a paste, using the salt as an abrasive, in a wide bowl.
2. Cut 3 medium-ripe Hass avocados (about 8 ounces each) in half. Twist the halves to separate them and remove the pit with the tip of the knife. Place an avocado half, cut side up, in your palm and make 3 or 4 evenly spaced lengthwise cuts through its flesh down to the skin, without cutting through the skin. Make 4 crosswise cuts in the same fashion
3. Scoop the diced avocado flesh into the molcajete. Repeat with remaining avocado halves. Gently fold the avocado into the chile–onion paste, keeping the avocado pieces fairly intact.
4. Add 3 tbsp. diced tomato, 2 firmly packed tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro, and 1 tbsp. finely chopped white onion.
5. Fold together all the ingredients, breaking up the avocado as little as possible. Taste and add salt, if necessary.
6. Serve immediately, directly from the molcajete (or bowl), with tortilla chips. 

   

Folks, please, DO NOT OVERMIX. This should not be a paste, no, no! It should be chunky, please! Now, I know Rosa Mexicano makes a point somewhere on their site that they do not add lime to their recipe. But to be honest, as much as I love this recipe, when I make it I add some lime juice. Start with the juice of 1/2 a lime, and taste and add more if you desire. And I will also say, I always think guacamole need more salt than you might think. But again, taste and decide what you like.

Sadly though, I do not have that woman hand making those tortillas in my kitchen.

One more margarita José!!

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This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

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