If you had told me a year ago that I would be writing a cooking blog I would have laughed in your face. "Not me!" I'd say. "I ruin everything in the kitchen." And it was true. My former roommates still tease me to this day over how I ruined rice. I thought you were supposed to boil them in a pot of water the same way you make pasta. Boy was I wrong!
The kitchen to me was a foreign and unfriendly land full of time consuming and tedious jobs to create something that I was going to burn, under cook or otherwise destroy. Or at least it was until my husband bought us a food processor. That simple machine has turned my life upside down.
You see, my favorite snack in the whole world is Chips and Salsa. I could eat it every day. Unfortunately, my husband and I are currently living on a shoestring budget and he gets to tie our metaphorical shoes so I'm left walking around barefoot most of the time. This means no splurging on another jar of salsa every couple days. I had to do something! I needed my fix. Thus, it came to pass that on one typical California day I looked in the fridge and saw that we had all the makings for Pico de Gallo. Now, how did a woman with very little knowledge of the kitchen know she had all the makings for Pico? A family recipe, of course.
My Mother-in-Law's boyfriend had thrown a party a few months back in which he had served a fantastic Pico de Gallo. I had been so enamored with it that I had asked for the recipe. He laughed as he told me the very simple recipe. To him, this dish was so commonplace for him in his household that it seemed strange that others might not know how to make it. I had listened eagerly as I munched on another Pico laden chip never knowing I'd actually put the knowledge to use.
As I pulled out the ingredients and set them on the counter I began to have second thoughts. How was I going to manage to dice an onion? Or chop a tomato into itsy bitsy pieces? Was I crazy? There was no way I was going to be able to finish making the Pico without doing something to destroy it. But just as I was about to give up hope, I noticed the food processor sitting so unassumingly on its shelf. I had found my solution.
Now, it has taken me some trial and error to figure out the exact ratios. I never did get those from Ralph. Let me preface by saying that using a food processor makes this Pico different than most since it’s more consistent in texture to salsa. It’s rather runny but quite scoop-able. However, I am very happy with the final result and am now pleased to pass on to all of you my first family recipe.
Pico De Gallo
Tools:
Food Processor (or lots of patience to dice it all by hand!)
Paring Knife
Cutting Board
Serving Bowl
Ingredients:
½ a Large White Onion
2-3 Jalapenos
½ a Cilantro Bunch
1 Lime
1 Garlic Clove
1 8 oz can of Diced Tomatoes or 1-2 large Tomatoes
Salt
Instructions:
- Slice onion half into quarters.
- Cut tops off of the jalapenos then slice them open. Remove the seeds and cut off the white strips from the jalapenos unless you want a ridiculously spicy Pico.
- Cut stems off of the cilantro.
- Toss onions, jalapenos, cilantro leaves and garlic into the food processor.
- Squeeze in all the juice you can get from the lime.
- Put the lid on the food processor and set it to work on the lowest setting possible. You may need to “Pulse” it a few times to get the blades spinning but try not to stay at high speeds for too long or your mix will be really runny and hard to scoop.
- Add in tomatoes. Repeat step 6.
- Sprinkle in salt to taste. I usually sprinkle it lightly over the whole mixture. Once the top has a light dusting over it I consider that enough.
- Mix one last time and sample. If the peppers were too strong you may need to add more tomatoes.
- Pour into serving bowl!
And you're done! How simple is that? It’s absolutely delicious with chips, added to your eggs, or as that final perfect topping on your tacos. It would seem that all that fear of the kitchen had more to do with a lack of confidence than ability. The kitchen is a place for experimentation and while I have no doubt that there will be one or two more rice-type disasters, I am confident that I will figure out what went wrong and try again.
It's Christmas Eve and even though my husband and I were unable to travel across country to be with family we still found ways to have them around us. For instance, I made Grandma's Corn Pudding. This is one of those dishes that I actually associate with summer since my Grandmother always brought it to our family reunions but I needed a dish to take to our friend's Christmas Potluck and this seemed absolutely perfect.
