Charity Cooks: Guacamole magic

At a recent event featuring locally farmed oysters on the half shell, an oyster lover approached me holding aloft a tortilla chip with a scoop of something green and fragrant and said, “This has got to be Maria’s guacamole.”

My husband was correct, and the fact that it distracted him from the oysters speaks volumes.

Most avocado lovers on Shelter Island know by now that Maria Serrano, owner of Maria’s Kitchen at 55 North Ferry Road in the Center makes the best guacamole around.

But if you can’t get to her store and don’t want to wait for the next time she decides to donate a big tub of guacamole and homemade tortilla chips for an event at the Shelter Island History Center, you can try your hand at making it at home.

Although hesitant to give away her secret, Maria agreed to talk about how she does it.

You may think that good guacamole is a simple thing. Just a few ingredients, right? Talking to Maria about how she makes guacamole is like talking to Gustavo Dudamel about conducting Mozart. Maybe it looks like she’s just waving her arms, but the result is deep and complex.

First there is the question of avocado ripeness, an art akin to determining by touch if an egg is hard boiled or soft. According to Ms. Serrano, it requires the person evaluating the avocado to keep it refrigerated and squeeze gently looking for firmness that barely yields to the touch.

“They have to be ripe but not too ripe, firm, not soft,” she said. “When they are black, the guacamole is not going to be good. If it gets those veins, throw it out. And they are very expensive. It’s very tricky to get the right avocados.”

After she cuts around the avocado and opens it, she removes the pit and scoops out the flesh with a spoon. “We don’t cut it out of the skin, we scoop,” she said. “We mash with the lime juice and a little bit of salt. Lots of lime juice. One whole lime for every avocado. If we make a big batch of 30 avocados we need 30 limes. We can never be without limes.”

After the mashing, she adds the onion, cilantro and a little bit of green sauce.  The green sauce contains tomatillos, lime juice, cilantro, garlic, onion and chili pepper. “That sauce has to be good, a real homemade sauce.  The only garlic in my guacamole is in the sauce, I like a lot of cilantro. I make the tomatillo sauce every day. After a day or two it turns yellow and that’s no good.”

Maria serves guacamole at home about once a week, she said. “I do put the pit in when I serve it in my house. I seal it with a lot of lime juice and that keeps it fresh. It’s always served with tortilla chips and pico de gallo. That’s the tradition for all my family.”

The inspiration for her guacamole, and all the dishes she prepares fresh every day is her mother, who passed away during the pandemic. “My mom was a good cook.  That’s how I learned. After that I decided I’m going to start this restaurant and it turned out really well.”

Maria remembers a time when some people on Shelter Island had never tried an avocado and weren’t sure they wanted to. “I’m so glad that I introduced so many people on the Island to avocado. Now everyone eats it.”

With the World Series coming and the NFL season well underway, the time for guacamole is now. So if you don’t happen to have a refrigerator full of perfectly ripe avocados, you could just go to the expert — Maria Serrano — and buy some.

MARIA’S GUACAMOLE

Serves 3-4 as an appetizer

• 2 ripe 6- to 8-oz. avocados, cut in half, pitted, and scooped out with a spoon

• The juice of two fresh limes, about 4 tablespoons, reserve 1 tablespoon for the sauce

• A pinch of salt

• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro, reserve 1 tablespoon for the sauce

• 1/4 cup minced white onion, reserve 1 tablespoon for the sauce

• A green sauce of 2 tomatillos, I tablespoon lime juice,1 tablespoon minced onion, cilantro, a crushed, peeled garlic clove and a pinch of toasted chilis, pureed in a blender.

1. Coarsely mash together the avocado and 3 tablespoons of lime juice with salt. Fold in the onion and cilantro.

2. Dribble in the tomatillo sauce a tablespoon at a time, tasting until you like the flavor, and the guacamole is still scoopable with a tortilla chip. You can store any unused tomatillo sauce for a couple of days.

3. Serve in a bowl with one of the pits you removed in the middle of the bowl (this helps the guacamole keep its color).

Guacamole does not store well, but if there is any left over, you can keep it for a day or two with a piece of plastic wrap touching the entire surface to prevent it being exposed to air.