Better Guacamole

The key to making great guacamole is to use fresh, ripe avocados. When you push on the skin with your finger they shouldn't be firm like an apple and shouldn't be mushy. They should feel about as firm as a nearly ripe banana. When you cut the avocado open it should be a vibrant green that yearns to listen to salsa music and dance with you. You can too, if you want. If you've got avocados like that, you owe it to yourself to make this guacamole... and to close the kitchen blinds before you dance.

Appetizers

Prep: 15 min
Total: 15 min
Serves 4-6

4 ripe avocados (see headnote)
Using a knife, cut avocados in half and remove pits. Using spoon, scoop out green flesh into a medium sized non-reactive bowl.
Using a potato masher (or a fork), mash the avacados.
1 cup red onion, minced (about one medium onion)
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed lime juice
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
Add chopped onion, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Mix with a spatula until well combined.
Using a clean spoon, taste the guacamole and add more lime juice, salt, or pepper to your taste (¼ to ½ teaspoon at a time).
1 ripe tomato, seeds and pulp removed, chopped
Chop tomato. If serving immediately, mix in with guacamole. Otherwise, store tomatoes in an air tight container and mix into guacamole right before serving.
Make Ahead Instructions (or How to Prevent Brown Guacamole)
Oxygen and tomatoes reacts with the avocados to turn them a dark, discolored brown-green. You want your guacamole to a vibrant, delicious green. Thankfully, it's easy to save your guacamole from a dull, brown-colored fate.
If you are not serving immediately, tear off a small sheet of plastic wrap and place directly on top of guacamole. Push out any air pockets or bubbles so that the guacamole is directly in contact with the plastic wrap. For good measure, take another piece of plastic wrap and cover top of bowl as you would normally.
Just before serving, remove plastic wrap. Using a spoon, remove and discard (or slyly eat) any guacamole discolored from oxidation. Add the chopped tomatoes and mix with a spatula or spoon.