Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka Built Their Relationship on Ina Garten’s Guacamole
In honor of Ina Garten's guest editing week, we asked chefs and celebrity fans to share their favorite Barefoot Contessa recipes as part of our series “How Easy Is That?.” Below, a conversation between actor Neil Patrick Harris and his husband, chef and actor David Burtka, about why they love Ina’s guacamole recipe—and how it won them a competition at Survivor host Jeff Probst’s house.
Neil Patrick Harris: I am from Albuquerque, New Mexico, so Mexican food is deep within my familial heritage. Chips and salsa, guacamole, and nachos are sort of like a thumb-in-my-mouth, blanket-wrapped-around-me comfort food. And I have strong opinions about it. So once David and I started dating, he quickly realized that it needed to be a household staple. We tried all kinds of guacamole recipes, and the one we took a shine to was Ina Garten’s, which seems so abnormal. It didn’t seem like it fit based on where she’s from. But her appreciation of the simplicity of it, I think, makes it a really terrific recipe. We’ve had really good luck with it.
David Burtka: We make a lot of Ina’s recipes, like her coconut muffins, Mediterranean orzo salad, and tomato soup, but we make the guacamole recipe more than any other. The one thing that sets it apart from others, and makes it the real winner, is that she uses lemon and not lime. It gives it that zip. There’s something about the sour mixed with the fat and the salt that just makes it a home run. It’s just kind of a perfect recipe. The other reason I think this recipe is so good is because there’s no cilantro! Cilantro is so polarizing for people. Either people love it or they hate it. You can always add it later, but this is a good base to make sure everyone is happy.
Harris: Also, guacamole should not be overly mixed in my opinion. Like with a good pico de gallo, it’s best when it’s chunky and you can appreciate the individual tastes as well as how they come together. I love what Ina suggests: cutting the avocados in half, coring them, scooping into a bowl, and then using a knife and just cutting them almost like a chessboard. You dice them inside the bowl while turning the bowl 90°, and then repeating, so you don’t have to mash them. They turn into small little pieces which match the size of the tomato that you diced as well, and you wind up with this really fresh taste and appearance.
Harris: One night, we went to Jeff Probst’s house—of Survivor fame—and he was having a proper game night. One of the games was a guacamole-off and everyone brought their different versions of guac. We won with Ina’s recipe. Everyone wanted to know what our secret was!
Burtka: We brought it in one of those old Molcajetes with homemade chips. I don’t like to do the triangles—I do them in strips so you get a long piece that curls up really nicely. If we buy store-bought chips, we get a mix of different colors: blue corn, yellow, and white. It mixes up the colors and textures and is pretty on the plate.
Harris: You know what else I made for David? When we first started dating, I tried to impress him with my chile con queso recipe at a Superbowl party. The recipe was so easy and great: equal parts Velveeta Mexican cheese and Pace Picante sauce, medium. You cube up the Velveeta, dump in the sauce, and microwave it in 30-second increments. It’s a little bit of a gut rot, but it’s really delicious. I think David was offended that I thought that was an actual recipe, and that’s when he said, “Why don’t we move towards guacamole, where you actually have some work to do?” And then we found Ina’s recipe. So we owe our relationship to her. Thanks, Ina.
Ina Garten’s Guacamole
From The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
Makes 3 cups
We use a knife to chop the avocados, which makes a chunky dip. It is very important to use Haas avocados from California. They’re not the pretty green ones you see in the market, but the earthy brown ones. They are ripe when they just give to the touch. I am not a cilantro fan, so add it if you love it. Serve at room temperature with yellow or blue corn chips.
A customer once asked us, “How do you get the guacamole green?” Of course we wondered what color it should be, but I think she wanted to know how we got it so green. We keep it green by storing it with plastic wrap pressed directly on top. Air will turn it brown, so the less air contact, the better. I believe it’s only a myth that an avocado pit will keep the guacamole green. Lemon juice does the best job.
4 ripe Haas avocados
3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (1 lemon)
8 dashes Tabasco sauce
½ cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion)
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 medium tomato, seeded, and small-diced
Cut the avocados in half, remove the pits, and scoop the flesh out of their shells into a large bowl. (I use my hands.)
Immediately add the lemon juice, Tabasco, onion, garlic, salt, and pepper and toss well. Using a sharp knife, slice through the avocados in the bowl until they are finely diced. Add the tomatoes. Mix well and taste for salt and pepper.
Recipe reprinted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. Copyright © 1999 by Ina Garten. Photographs copyright © 1999 by Melanie Acevedo. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.
