Pico de Gallo

I absolutely love Pico de Gallo. If you’ve never heard of it before, it’s basically a fresh tomato salsa. The main difference between Salsa and Pico de Gallo, at least from my observations, is that Pico de Gallo is always made with fresh tomatoes and is chunkier than salsa. Salsa is sometimes made with cooked or canned tomatoes and can have a thinner consistency. Many recipes for salsa will have you make it in the blender. Since tomatoes are probably my top favorite vegetables, I love them both:). What can I say, I can’t hurt either of their feelings. 

This is the version that I have been making for many years. I love the combination of fresh flavors – the juicy, ripe tomatoes, fresh cilantro, slightly spicy jalapeño and aromatic garlic and shallot. You can use onion instead of the shallot, but I prefer the shallot, since it’s much milder and doesn’t have such a strong onion bite. Also, many recipes for Pico de Gallo do not include garlic, but for me, it just feels like something is missing without the garlic.

Of course, the classic accompaniment to Pico de Gallo are tortilla chips. I will be sharing a recipe for Loaded Nachos very soon, which is absolutely AMAZING. You can also serve it with Chicken Quesadillas, it will be really yummy too.

I love making a little bit extra Pico de Gallo and enjoying it with an Omelet, a Breakfast Burrito or Breakfast Quesadilla the next morning.

Ingredients:

3 medium tomatoes, seeded and chopped

1 jalapeño, seeded and minced

1 very small shallot, minced (you can also use red or yellow onion instead, in which case use only 1/4 of the onion)

1 small garlic clove, minced

1/2 Tablespoon lime juice

1 Tablespoon cilantro, chopped

salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Combine all the ingredients together.

Refrigerate for about 30 minutes or up to 1 day in advance.