Pico de Gallo
Life with a new puppy has been busy to say the least. Busy, but a lot of fun too. It's also changed my routine around a little. I'm getting up earlier in the morning, running errands around her feeding schedule, and taking a lot more time to do...everything. But I don't mind any of it. In fact, I love it. The Type A gal like me needs a little routine-shaking every now and then, and I've surprised myself at how easy-going I've started to become in some areas. It's amazing what dogs teach us. If you are a dog person, you totally get this.
For the next few months, Peter and I have put our weekly "date nights" on hold as we train Sienna. She is being crate-trained for sleeping at night and while we are out of the house, but we still can't be away for too long since she is still too young to be home alone for several hours. So, we're eating in for our Saturday "date nights" and it's been fun...and a lot more delicious! We've also been grilling a lot lately. The weather has been fantastic and we're enjoying it while we can before the Texas heat starts to set in.
Last week, we made beef fajitas--one of our favorite Tex-Mex dishes. Our local grocery store makes fresh flour tortillas and guacamole that are out-of-this-world delicious, and living in Texas means you can always find great cuts of beef!
We can't eat our fajitas without pico de gallo and it's one of my favorite things to make, but I've never made it right in the past. I always made it with more tomato and less of everything else. I knew Ree had a recipe in her cookbook and when I read her introduction to the recipe, I realized why my pico de gallo was never turning out right--you need to have equal proportions of all the ingredients. Problem solved! This was the best pico de gallo I have ever made to date and it will be staying on my Summer rotation indefinitely.
I highly recommend using only Roma tomatoes for pico de gallo. They have a lower water and seed content than other tomato varieties and don't turn soggy as quickly. I personally love red onion, but you can use yellow onion just as successfully. If you want to remove some of the onion's spicy "bite", place the chopped onion in a colander and rinse it under some cold running water. Strain it well to remove the excess water and then add it to the other ingredients. You'll still get the onion's flavor without the strong pungency. Jalapeno, of course is optional since not everyone likes too much spiciness in their food, but if you remove the seeds and white inner membrane, you will get a much milder flavor. Cilantro, too is optional since I know this is a "love it" or "hate it" ingredient. Peter and I happen to adore cilantro, so it's always in our pico de gallo.
This is a "recipe without a recipe", and like Ree, I'm not providing measurements--just a list of the ingredients. Depending on how much pico de gallo you want to make, you can adjust the quantities of each ingredient. All you have to do is keep the proportions of each ingredient equal (with the exception of the salt and lime juice, which you will use less of and go by taste).
Pico de Gallo
Adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks by Ree DrummondRoma Tomatoes, chopped into small dice
Red or Yellow Onions, chopped into small dice
Jalapeno, chopped into small dice
Cilantro, finely chopped
Lime juice (freshly squeezed)
Kosher salt (to taste)Combine first 4 ingredients in a bowl large enough to accommodate them. Sprinkle with salt and pour in some of the lime juice. Mix well. Taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary. Remember: you can always add, but you can't take away, so add the salt and lime juice a little at a time and taste as you go to adjust the seasoning.
Tip: Taste the pico de gallo with a tortilla chip. Since tortilla chips are salty, they will add salt to the overall taste.
Serve at room temperature.
|
Subscribe to RSS |
.jpg)
What a great tip about Roma tomatoes! Adding them to my list for grocery shopping this week!