Pico de Gallo
My friend D got married yesterday! Congratulations to the happy couple. It was a lovely wedding and I participated as one of her bridesmaids. For her bachelorette just a few weekends ago, we all went to Miami. On our first day there, as soon as we hopped off the plane, we started contemplating lunch. I wanted to get Mexican so I suggested Alma Mexicana. It was delicious. So delicious, in fact, that even after I got back, I was craving Mexican food constantly.
One of the easiest recipes you can use to quash a Mexican food craving is pico de gallo. Pico de gallo, also known as salsa fresca, is a fresh medley of chopped vegetables with absolutely no cooking involved. There are several varieties but today, I'm sharing what I consider "the classic." You can spoon it over tacos, over eggs, or just go for it by dipping chips into the bowl. It's awesome.
Ingredients [yields approximately 3 cups]:
2 cups ripe tomato, diced (I like baby heirloom)
1 cup sweet onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, finely diced
½ cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice (the juice of 1 lime)
salt to taste
Start by grabbing a cutting board and chopping up all the bits and bobs that make up this glorious salsa. I like the tomato chunks to be the biggest, the onion chunks to be slightly smaller, the jalapeno bits to be finely diced, the garlic should be even finer, and then the cilantro should be haphazardly chopped with smaller and bigger chunks here and there.
To assemble, just chuck all of the ingredients into a bowl and give it a good stir. I like about 1/4 teaspoon of salt in my pico de gallo - it's just enough to bring out the flavors of the ingredients without being overpowering. You really want the inherent flavor of the vegetables to shine.
And that's it! Friggin' easy, right? Once the ingredients are well mixed, you'll want to cover the bowl with some cling film, chuck it in the fridge, and leave it to chill for about an hour. During this time, the flavors will meld together and get really good. You don't want to leave it too long because tomatoes tend to get mealy when they're refrigerated.
After that, it's perfect and ready to be served. If there's a lot of liquid left in the bottom of the bowl, you can drain it (save it for bloody marys!) but I like to leave it. The liquid is perfect for spooning over rice & beans. If you wanted to make this a little hardier, you could add some chopped shrimp or avocado bits. Creativity is always welcome, especially in recipes like this where it's so easy to customize to your liking. Chopped cucumber, pineapple pieces, mango, radish, pretty much any delicious vegetable can get tossed in here and it will be fantastic.
This stuff is super fresh and punchy and vibrant and it's just the best. I mean, it looks so pretty and festive too, right?
Here's the recipe page:
One of the easiest recipes you can use to quash a Mexican food craving is pico de gallo. Pico de gallo, also known as salsa fresca, is a fresh medley of chopped vegetables with absolutely no cooking involved. There are several varieties but today, I'm sharing what I consider "the classic." You can spoon it over tacos, over eggs, or just go for it by dipping chips into the bowl. It's awesome.
2 cups ripe tomato, diced (I like baby heirloom)
1 cup sweet onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, finely diced
½ cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons lime juice (the juice of 1 lime)
salt to taste
Start by grabbing a cutting board and chopping up all the bits and bobs that make up this glorious salsa. I like the tomato chunks to be the biggest, the onion chunks to be slightly smaller, the jalapeno bits to be finely diced, the garlic should be even finer, and then the cilantro should be haphazardly chopped with smaller and bigger chunks here and there.
After that, it's perfect and ready to be served. If there's a lot of liquid left in the bottom of the bowl, you can drain it (save it for bloody marys!) but I like to leave it. The liquid is perfect for spooning over rice & beans. If you wanted to make this a little hardier, you could add some chopped shrimp or avocado bits. Creativity is always welcome, especially in recipes like this where it's so easy to customize to your liking. Chopped cucumber, pineapple pieces, mango, radish, pretty much any delicious vegetable can get tossed in here and it will be fantastic.
Pico de gallo is one of the great condiments of cuisine in my opinion. This is a great recipe for pico as well. One thing that I always love doing with my picos is to add a little green and red bell pepper to it, not much, usually half of each for the quantity that this recipe makes. Thanks for the good information!
ReplyDeleteDiane Baker @ Alejandra's Restaurant
Thanks for reading :) Adding bell pepper sounds delicious too!
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