Pico di Gallo!
April 2007 | photos/text Kimberly Kradel
Pico di Gallo is probably one of the easiest Mexican dishes to make. Considered a salad in and of itself, it's three main ever present ingredients are fresh tomatoes, onions, and cilantro. But there are really as many variations on the Pico di Gallo theme as there are cooks in the kitchen.
Pico di Gallo is also commonly, although mistakenly, called a salsa, and when many people think of salsa, they are actually picturing Pico di Gallo. Salsa is the word for sauce in Spanish and salsa is much more of a spicy liquid than a chunky Pico di Gallo. Salsas also have much more variety as they can be made with tomatoes, tomatillos, chilis, or avacado as their primary base.
Pico di Gallo is a raw vegetable and fruit, since tomatoes are technically a fruit, dish and is very easy to prepare. All you need are the ingredients, a bowl, a cutting board, and a good knife.
For it to be a true Pico di Gallo, the ingredients must be fresh, no canned items or dried herbs! In El Norte, this may be a dish that is limited to the summer months because of the availability of fresh ingredients.
The Main Ingredients:
Ripe tomatoes, and if they are available, make them organic!
Red or yellow onion, whichever you prefer.
Sprigs of fresh cilantro.
The Secondary Ingredients:
A clove or two of fresh garlic.
A serrano or jalapeno pepper.
Red and/or green bell pepper.
The juice of a lime or two and if you can't find a lime, a lemon will do.
A splash of olive oil.
Chop up the ingredients into small cubes and put in the bowl. Things do not have to be perfectly sized as Pico di Gallo is very chunky. When you chop the tomatoes, make sure to capture the juice and put it in the bowl as well. The heat in the jalapeno peppers is in the seeds, so, some people take the seeds out and some leave the seeds in.
This dish is much more fun to make without a food processor.
Other ingredients that also make Pico di Gallo yummy: (but not all together)
Diced avacado, mango, or papaya.
What to do with Pico di Gallo?
Open a bag of chips and dip right in.
Pico di Gallo tastes great topped on grilled chicken or fish. Use either cold, or saute very quickly to warm it up.
Scramble into eggs, or home fries.
Toss with some grilled chicken (or not) into a salad.
Stir into guacamole or a bowl of sour cream for a more creamy, cool, dip.
Enjoy! — KK
Written by anthropologist Cherry Hamman for her graduate thesis, this cookbok is not just about Mayan cooking and recipes, but also the adventure in scouring the countryside to find them.
Includes many recipes taken from other regional cookbooks, along with adaptations for those who are cooking outside of The Yucatan.
Pompano tamales. Shrimp enchiladas. Candied sweet papaya. These are some of the foods whose recipes reside in the pages of Nancy and Jeffrey Gerlach’s Foods of the Maya. The authors have spent years traveling throughout Mexico, familiarizing themselves with the cultures and cuisines of the people they have encountered. They created this cookbook to bring the flavors of the Yucatán to tables north of the border.
In an easy-to-follow format, Foods of the Maya provides handy background and travel information about the region and some of its ruins before dipping into the ninety-one recipes included here, organized according to meal course. There are recipes that will suit most everyone’s palate, from sauces and salsas to soups and sausages; from vegetarian and meat appetizers and main dishes to simple drinks and desserts. Each section begins with a brief description of the course and the types of food involved. The recipes are clear and easy to understand—one need not be a trained chef with a vast kitchen to create a tasty Yucatecan meal.
Foods of the Maya incorporates an array of cooking tips and techniques and a brief glossary of terms to help in food preparation—the authors have ensured that ingredients for their recipes are readily available at local food stores. This edition also includes an introduction by historian Jeffrey Pilcher which helps familiarize readers with the history and cultures of the Yucatán peninsula. So the next time you get a hankering for something different, you might consider cooking up a platter of Yucatán ribs or preparing a bowl of chayote pudding. Take a short trip to the Yucatán—without leaving your kitchen.Nancy and Jeffrey Gerlach live in Albuquerque. Jeffrey Pilcher teaches history at The Citadel. A trip to the Yucatán in your own kitchen. - book description
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