A sweet and spicy twist on classic guacamole, and BBQ plantain chips to boot! Nothing beats freshly mashed guac on salty plantain chips. 

Once upon a time, I worked in a Chilis Bar and Grill. At this time, Chilis had recently caught on to the restaurant trend of making appetizers and desserts by the side of the table — specifically, making guacamole. The avocados and mix-in’s were pre-cut in the back and set up for when we needed them.

But heres the thing:  they liked to pre-cut the avocados days in advance, and the avocados usually weren’t even ripe. We would ring in the guac, grab our tickets, set up our trays, and embark to go make small talk at our master’s feet while we mashed the hard, brown avocados. Upon picking up the embarrassingly brown ingredients, fear would creep through our veins as we realized that we were about to lose our tips over really crappy guac. We would try to hide that fact that the avocados really weren’t ripe enough to mash, but you can only fake that so long before the customers tried to eat it.

On the plus side, Chili’s is 90% full of people who will literally drink ranch dressing, so they aren’t exactly the hardest crowd to please.    I’d apologize for that generalization, except I’ve literally seen it happen on multiple occasions.

So anyways, when I finally left Chili’s, I felt liberated from my servanthood of Tableside Guacamole.

But, then I moved to Arizona and applied at a much of restaurants, without looking to see what they actually served. I happened to land a serving job at Cantina Laredo, which was a Mexican restaurant. Statistically, the odds were not in my favor from the beginning, since Arizona is 70% Tex-Mex.I definitely hadn’t thought any of that through.

I’m sure you can see where this is going.

So, I spent another two years making Tableside Guacamole. This time, the ingredients were slightly higher quality, but still never ripe enough. The clientele was a lot snootier, which only made everything worse. I had several customers who came in weekly and asked to sit in my section, where they would order MULTIPLE guacs. Ya. But never all at once, because that would be too easy for the waitress.  And thats how I lost so much weight as a server — running laps to find more avocados for the tipsy housewives of Gilbert, Arizona.

I haven’t let the trauma of serving extinguish my love of guac. I love it even more now, because I finally get to make it right. Good quality avocados, fresh cilantro and lime, and a few well-diced mix-ins.

Delicious redemption.

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Spicy Grapefruit Guacamole and Barbecue Plantain Chips

PREP TIME 10 minutes

COOK TIME 10 minutes

TOTAL TIME 20 minutes

INGREDIENTS

For guacamole

• 1 large avocado, halved, seeded, and peeled
• Juice from 1/2 a lime
• 1 grapefruit, sliced, removed from membrane, and cut into chunks
• 1 small jalapeño, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 clove fresh garlic, minced
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper

For plantain chips

• 2 ripe plantains
• 3 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp coconut sugar or brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp garlic

INSTRUCTIONS

For guacamole:

1. Place avocado and lime juice in a bowl and mash well with a fork. Add in grapefruit pieces, cilantro, garlic, green onions, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Garnish with additional grapefruit or jalapeño slices, if desired.

2. Add in grapefruit pieces, cilantro, garlic, green onions, salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Garnish with additional grapefruit or jalapeño slices, if desired.

For plantains:

1. Peel plantains and cut into wedges (I make mine 1/4 inch thick)
2. Toss with spices until well coated.
3. Heat coconut oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Place plantains in skillet and cook for 5-6 minutes on each side, until golden.

Get your ingredients here! Because stores are hard.

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