Pico de Gallo

May 5: Cinco de Mayo

On “Taco Tuesdays” at Islander’s brother’s congregational community house in San Antonio, Texas, the Catholic brothers and priests would host university students at a prayer social. When they were short-staffed, we helped out the Mexican cooks (husband and wife team Sr. Gregorio y Sra. Sylvia) in the kitchen, chopping up vegetables, preparing the buffet line and setting the dessert table. Appetizers were always tortilla chips, salsa and pico de gallo.

Pico de gallo is a chunky fresh vegetable relish and condiment that is easy to make. It is a delicious side dish to serve as a snack and appetizer for Cinco de Mayo and makes any meal feel like a fiesta!

Recipe

(Inspired by Gregorio and Sylvia P.)

Ingredients

• 2-3 Roma or plum tomatoes, chopped
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1-2 jalapeño peppers, deseeded and deveined, finely chopped
• handful of cilantro leaves, chopped
• 1 lime, juiced
• salt and pepper to taste
• tortilla chips for serving

Directions

Prepare the vegetables by chopping the tomatoes, onions, peppers and cilantro. Add all to a mixing bowl.

Cut the lime in half and squeeze the juice into the vegetables. Salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with chips. Enjoy with cerveza (beer)!

Notes

• We just love how the red tomatoes, white onion and green jalapeño peppers and cilantro leaves in this pico de gallo recipe are coincidentally the colors of Mexico.
• Search our blog for more Mexican recipes.