In the Kitchen: The Best Pico de Gallo

If you're like me, then you consider chips and salsa a food group all their own.  One of the things I missed the most this past pregnancy was my lack of desire for chips and salsa.  It honestly had me flummoxed because, um, well I eat it nearly every single day.  True story.  

As such, I've got more than one homemade salsa up my sleeve...instead, I've got four we rotate through on the regular.  Green, which is made almost weekly, rotated with red, which is well, made almost weekly as well, then this pico de Gallo and finally a black bean and corn that is more filling and great for a party.

With temps warming up in these parts I'm getting that itch for casual chips and salsa consuming poolside.  What can I say?  I'm a simple girl with simple desires.

​Let's get it started...

Chop up a tomato -- do it as fine or as chunky as you like.  This is the base & I used 2 smaller tomatoes, so if you want a large amount, chop up 3 or 4 depending how much you need.  Be careful how much you make though, because this recipe only last about 2 days, then it gets a bit soggy.

Add garlic.  If you do fresh, scale back just a touch, as fresh tends to be a bit stronger.  I don't even measure, but this is what I added to that first tomato.

Next up is your red onion, add about 1/3 of an average size onion.  I don't love a huge onion bite, so I use my food processor to get these pretty fine.  You get the flavor without literally biting into an onion. 

In my opinion, cilantro is the best thing to happen to fresh salsa, so just use the whole bunch.

I use kitchen sheers for a coarse chop, then add to bowl.

Again, I don't measure anything when I make this, so just drizzle a bit of olive oil.  I did two circles around the bowl this time.  You're always better off adding less as opposed to more since it's always easy to add a bit more if need be in the end.

A generous sprinkle of salt and pepper...

and then this! This is the magic touch!  Add about a TB of balsamic vinegar.  It won't look like much, but you can always add more if you need too.  You definitely don't want it to be soupy and once you let it set in the fridge for about an hour, it gets juicier, so go easy on the olive oil and balsamic your first go.  If you get over-excited like I often do and add too much, don't stress.  Just hold a plate over your bowl & tip it over the sink to drain some of the juice out before serving.  Does description make sense?  I hope so.  

Pour yourself a Diet Coke or your beverage of choice and enjoy!  Also, as a side note, the best store bought chips for any salsa are hands down the On the Border ones -- love their Cantina Thins.