Serious Eats: Recipes
Recipe: Pico de Gallo Norteño
We've been doing some research around the office on salsas (more on this later), trying various bottled brands to see which we like most. But nothing beats a bowl of the homemade stuff, so we thought we'd share one of our favorite recipes with you. It's an adaptation of Zarela Martínez's salsa cruda recipe from the book Food from My Heart
Pico de Gallo Norteño
- makes about 4 cups -
Martínez cautions that the tomatoes you use need to be truly ripe and sweet and that you serve and eat this salsa immediately.
Ingredients
2 to 4 fresh chilies, either jalapeño or serrano, tops removed but not seeded
1 garlic clove, peeled
4 large ripe, red tomatoes, peeled but not seeded (about 2 1/2 pounds)
6 to 8 scallions with some of the green tops
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro leaves
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano, crumbled
Juice of 1 large lime
Salt, to taste
Procedure
1. Chop chilies very fine. Mince garlic. Coarsely chop tomatoes. Finely chop scallions and cilantro.
2. Place garlic, tomatoes, scallions, and cilantro in a large bowl. If tomatoes are dry and juiceless, gradually add up to 1/2 cup cold water to achieve a light salsa consistency. Stir to mix ingredients.
3. Add chilies gradually, sampling until you're happy with the heat. Add oregano, then lime juice. Add salt to taste.