If you’re like me, you plant a TON of tomatoes and they always seem to overrun the kitchen during harvest time. None of us are big fans of tomatoes by themselves, but we absolutely LOVE Pico de Gallo and will eat it on everything from crackers to fish to tacos. Sometimes, mixing it with mashed avocado makes a quick and yummy guacamole.
It’s basically a salad made of onion, tomato, tomatillo, cilantro, lime juice, jalepeno, and salt. We grow almost all of it in our garden except the tomatillo. We still haven’t had much luck with that. We find it at the local Latin grocery store in greater quantity than we can our local store. We’ve never tried to freeze it or can it, but that’s because there is never any left to worry about!
This is a great recipe to get your children practicing chopping and putting together a very forgiving dish. Be sure to supervise, and give them a proper knife to use, but this is a great knife practicing opportunity for them.
But to get you in the mood for making this fantastic dish, listen to this. It’s one of our favorite songs from a band called Trout Fishing in America. It’s kind of silly – you’ve been warned 😀
Now that you’re all in the mood, it’s time…
How to Make Pico de Gallo
This is one of those recipes that is VERY forgiving. Use what you have, adjust to your taste, and don’t worry about correct quantities. I’ll give you a general idea, but you can really make it work for how you like it or what you have on hand.
12 Roma Tomatoes
6 Tomatillos
1-2 Jalepeno
1 Red Onion
2 cups cilantro leaves – chopped, must be fresh
1 lime
Directions:
- Cut tomatoes in half and get rid of the guts (it’ll be too runny if you don’t). We chop them into 1/2″ bites.
- Chop onion into 1/2″ bites
- Remove paper layer of tomatillo and chop into 1/2″ bites.
- Chop cilantro leaves well, be sure to remove any stems. They aren’t so good – throw them into the compost bin.
- Cut jalepeno in half, scoop out seeds and cut out all of the white ribbing. Wash your hands and utensils thoroughly after this step. You don’t want this in your eyes.
- Cut lime in half, and squirt juice over salad, making sure not to let the seeds escape. You can mix and taste for best results before adding 2nd half of lime juice.
- Salt to taste.
Store in airtight container for 3 or 4 days. Serve over anything – our favorite really is with crackers or on fish tacos.
Want a really interesting twist on it?
How to Make Greek Pico de Gallo
12 Roma Tomatoes
1 Cucumber, peeled and fine chopped
1-2 Jalepeno (or small red, yellow or orange bell pepper seeded, deribbed and finely chopped)
1 Red Onion
1 Cup Parsley – rough chopped
A bit of fresh oregano
1 lemon
handful of crumbled Feta cheese
Follow the same basic procedures as creating a regular pico de gallo, but with the added flavors, you’ve got a great Greek twist on things!
Your Thoughts – Do you love cilantro or hate it?
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