Pico de Gallo


Originally posted Feb 12, 2009.  Photo's and text updated June 3, 2012.

I'm sorry I dropped off the face of the earth again!  This always seems to happen when work gets crazy, and being in the final few weeks of preschool while 7 months pregnant has made it extra hectic.  Two more weeks of putting my nose to the grindstone and I can officially relax and enjoy my summer and my family before this baby comes.

In the meantime, I thought I'd pop in quick and post new photos of this fantastic pico de gallo recipe.  The old ones were HORRRRRID.  Like, really bad.  It's nice to be able to update and improve them :)

A couple Saturday's ago, I was in the throes of a huge preschool Mother's Day project.  My house had gone to pot, the laundry had mountainized, there was still a ton of preschool work to be done....and I was single parenting for the day!  I decided to ignore all the chores that were calling my name, pack up the girls and head to the Farmer's Market.  It turned into such a lovely day!  I let my girls pick out some fresh produce and we came home with some beautiful red and yellow cocktail tomatoes (nothing like those pinkish-orange anemic ones we find in the grocery store), red and green jalapeno's and some fresh cilantro.  Fresh pico de gallo was definitely in order!  The sweet and juicy greenhouse tomatoes tasted like gold amongst the raw pungent onions, peppery cilantro, lime and chile. I served it up on some Authentic Mexican Tacos, but found myself scooping it up later in the evening on tortilla chips and not being able to control myself.

As an appetizer with chips, or as a condiment for your fave Mexican foods, you must make some pico de gallo this summer.

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Makes about 1 1/2 cups




2-3 large ripe tomatotes, diced
1/2 medium red onion, diced (or about 6 green onions)
1/2 jalapeno, deseeded and finely chopped (this is the heat level I like, so adjust to your own tastes)
1 tbsp lime juice
1 clove garlic, finely minced or grated
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
Salt and pepper

Dice the tomatoes and add to a bowl. I like to deseed my tomatoes, but that's because I deseed tomatoes for everything I make...I'm not a fan of the goopy stuff. Feel free to just chop them without deseeding because it's not totally necessary for this recipe. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and stir to mix thoroughly. Taste and adjust salt, lime juice, cilantro and/or jalapeno to your liking. Serve with taco's or as dip for tortilla chips.


Click here for printable version of Pico de Gallo
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THE RESULTS?
Really fresh and really delicious. What I like about making pico de gallo is that it's a dish that you don't really need a recipe for. You just chop ingredients and mix them together. Yes, you have to make sure all the flavors are in balance but the nice thing is you can alter and adjust to your own tastes. I like that. I also love that it's a perfect use for fresh summer produce.

Here's some ideas of what to do with it:

  • Layer it into your favorite Layered Mexican dip
  • Grill chicken breasts with lime and grill seasoning and pile pico de gallo on top.  Or slice chicken into a salad and top with pico de gallo and other favorite veggies.  Creamy Lime Cilantro Dressing drizzled on top would taste fabulous.