Guacamole Salad

The husband and I recently invited my parents over to celebrate my dad's 65th birthday. All 4 of us a big fans of babyback ribs, so I immediately planned to BBQ 3 racks of ribs as the main course. But when it came to the sides, I wasn't sure.

I didn't want to go the traditional route of corn and potato salad, so I kept browsing recipes until I hit upon this guacamole salad. I knew it would be the perfect pairing to our ribs. It was really really good! I bought my avocados a few days before making the salad in order to give them time to get ripe; they were perfectly smooth and creamy, with that faint bacon-y taste that Hass avocados sometimes have.

I added a roasted passilla pepper to the mix to give everything a smokey flavor and tie the salad into the main course. I loved the way the whole things turned out and even at a bowl of the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Guacamole Salad
Source: adapted from Pink Parsley
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 passilla pepper
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
1 large red bell pepper, seeded and cut into large chunks
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed
4 green onions, white and green parts thinly sliced
1 jalepeno, seeded, minced
zest of one lime
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground dried jalapeno (you can sub cayenne)
2 ripe Hass avocados, cut into large chunks

Directions

Roast a passilla pepper until the skin is blackened. (I roast mine over the flame on the stove). Let the pepper cool, then peel off and discard all of the charred skin. Deseed the pepper and cut it into large chunks.

Combine the first 7 ingredients, including the roasted pepper, in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the lime juice, olve oil, salt, pepper, and dried jalapeno. Pour this dressing over the salad and gently toss, coating all of the vegetables.

Add the avocado just before serving.

Toss and taste before serving; you may want to add a bit more salt at this point.