Cookbook #62 Barefoot Contessa At Home and Guacamole Salad

Is it cheating to keep going back to one of your favorite recipes in a cookbook?  One of the down sides of having so many cookbooks is that there's a bit of guilt that comes with making the same recipe in a cookbook when there's so many new ones to try.  But still, Barefoot Contessa's Guacomole Salad is one of those that deserves revisiting often.

This cookbook needs no introductions. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've highlighted a couple of recipes from this book on the blog, but never officially checked it off as "complete" in plan to make something from each cookbook. That must make this the official cookbook post.

The recipe is almost perfect, a perfect mix of crisp and creamy, tart and tangy and light but still filling. The first time I made it, there was a bit too much lime for my taste, so I just used the one lime this time and omitted the yellow bell pepper because I didn't have any.  Sad. I bet yellow bell pepper is fabulous in this. Oh yeah, no grape tomatoes either.  But that's the beauty of salad.  You mix up the ingredients if you have to.

Guacamole Salad
Adapted from Barefoot Contessa At Home

Ingredients:

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup small diced red onion
2 tablespoons minced jalapeno peppers, seeded (2 peppers)
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated lime zest
Juice of one lime
1/4 cup good olive oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
2 ripe Hass avocados, seeded, peeled, and 1/2-inch diced

Directions:
Place the tomatoes, yellow pepper, black beans, red onion, jalapeno peppers, and lime zest in a large bowl. Whisk together the lime juice, olive oil, salt, black pepper, garlic, and cayenne pepper and pour over the vegetables. Toss well.

Just before you're ready to serve the salad, fold the avocados into the salad. Check the seasoning and serve at room temperature.