Pico de Gallo

For some reason, I have this weird obsession with sauces and dips and toppings. If I can dip part of my meal into it, or pile it on top of my food, I probably love it. I am that girl that orders french fries in a restaurant and needs 3 different sauces to dip them in – I love the fries (very, very much, actually), but I also LOVE all the sauces. I feel the same way about condiments that I plop on top of my food – sour cream and cheese on chili, salsa on tacos, etc. These extra toppings and sauces just make me so happy! Yes, I realize that this is odd. Stop judging me.

Anyways, one of my very favorite things to top my food with is pico de gallo (otherwise known as fresh salsa). It is so fresh, and so delicious, and just so PERFECT for pairing with other things. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that I am half Mexican, and grew up with the idea that salsa goes on EVERYTHING, and a tortilla is as much as utensil as a fork – it’s in my blood.

Especially in the summer, I love to have a big batch of pico in the fridge. I’ll spend half an hour chopping and dicing on a Friday night, make a giant bowl of pico de gallo, and my husband and I will plow through it before Sunday night – putting it on tacos, piling it on our eggs, and just eating it straight with tortilla chips. It’s simple to make, and makes everything more delicious!

Every person and every restaurant makes their pico differently, so I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of variations over the years. I prefer to keep mine as simple as possible (side note: green pepper never, ever, EVER belongs in pico de gallo, and anyone who tells you otherwise is a dirty liar. I’m looking at you, Trader Joe’s), so that the fresh vegetables are the main flavors!

Pico de gallo
Makes one large batch – maybe 4-5 cups?

about 10 roma tomatoes, rinsed and quartered
1/2 large, or one whole medium sweet onion, diced
2 large handfuls cilantro, roughly chopped
kosher salt

1.) Start by chopping your tomatoes. I prefer to quarter mine, then cut out the ribs and seeds (just start at one end of the tomato, slide your knife under the end of the rib, and gently slide the knife down the length of the tomato wedge, between the flesh and the rib – I do this over the sink, and just let the watery seeds fall right off). I de-seed all the wedges first, and then quickly dice them all (make sure your knife is sharp – tomato skins don’t always cut easily with a dull knife)! Toss all the diced tomatoes into a bowl.

2.) Add your diced onion to the tomatoes – you should have almost equal parts tomatoes and onions. If you have way more tomatoes, dice up some more of your onion. (As someone who does not really enjoy raw onions, I LOVE them in this application. Something about the combination of flavors takes any sharp bite out of the onion, and all you get is the sweetness of it!)

3.) Roughly chop your cilantro, and add that to the bowl. Throw a healthy pinch of kosher salt on top, and give everything a good mix.

This will keep, covered, in the fridge for 3-4 days (don’t expect it to last that long). As it sits, it will get a little watery, and that’s totally fine – you can drain the water off if you prefer, or just leave it alone. We honestly put this on everything – on top of scrambled eggs, rolled up in a tortilla with refried beans, over rice, etc etc etc. It is truly one of my favorite foods – and so simple and easy to make! It is 1000 times better than anything you can buy in a store, I can promise you that much.

Green peppers are an abomination,
Tina

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