pico de gallo

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Once again while scrolling through Instagram recipe reels – it’s becoming a thing! – I came across one for pan-grilled calamari topped with pico de gallo and I realised that I had never made pico de gallo before. Mostly because dicing veg is not a favourite pastime. Then I remembered how YEARS ago back in Toronto I had this a handy manual veg chopper (I think it was Braun) where you put an onion or pepper on a cutting board, placed the chopper over the veg and went BAM BAM BAM until everything was finely chopped. So I wondered if such a thing still existed and that very day found one (on sale!) at El Corte Inglés. Different brand, same simple mechanism. So I bought it!

For any of you wondering what pico de gallo is, it’s a type of fresh salsa typically used in Mexican cuisine. Main ingredients include tomato, peppers and onion, with many variations on that theme. For this one I used tomato, two types of peppers (red bell and italian green), sweet onion and a few jalepeños. For herbs I went with a mix of fresh parsley and cilantro, and dressed it with lime juice and olive oil (salt and pepper to taste). Some recipes I saw don’t use olive oil, others add this and that, or only use green peppers… but really it’s up to you! So this is kind of a non-recipe in the sense that it is up to you to choose which ingredients sound good to you. This version was fabulous and I will make it again very soon, and probably quite often. It’s an easy and simple way of adding freshness and a bit of zing to pretty much anything. And now that I have my new chopper it’s also extra easy to make.

Ingredients and instructions below…

  • 1 -2 tomatoes (seeds and pulp removed)
  • 1 green pepper (Italian)
  • 1/2 red pepper
  • 1 small sweet onion
  • 2-3 jalepeños (optional)
  • 2 limes
  • olive oil
  • fresh parsley
  • fresh cilantro
  • salt & pepper

Finely chop/dice the tomatoes, peppers, onion, etc. and put together in a bowl. Then chop the herbs and add them to the veg mixture. Stir and blend well. Then add lime juice and olive oil and stir again until it’s all blended together. Season with salt and pepper to taste.