Fresh Tomato Salsa (or Pico De Gallo)

One thing that I like to do is to take something I love that I order at a restaurant and make it at home.  I was introduced to the wonderful world of Fresh Tomato Salsa (as Chipotle calls it) or Pico De Gallo when I started eating at Chipotle while commuting to/attending the Kent State University's main branch.  There is a Chipotle on the edge of campus and people thought it was crazy that I had never eaten there.  So I tried it out.  And my world was never the same...

Fresh Tomato Salsa is so easy and yet it turned out to be so complicated.  Every time I made it, it just felt like something was missing, but I couldn't figure out what.  Then one day I had both an "AHA!" and "DUH!  Why didn't I think of that sooner?" moment.  It was lime zest.  I had been adding lime juice, which is a necessity, but the juice just doesn't bring the same clean, bright, yet subtle flavor that the zest does.

So without further ado, here's what you need:
6 tomatoes
1 medium red onion
2 jalapenos
About .5 cup fresh Cilantro
1 lime
Salt

Here's how you make it:
1.  Dice tomatoes, onion, and jalapenos.  (I seed my jalapenos, but if you like some heat you can leave the seeds in.  If you need help on seeding a pepper, see my post on BBQ Jalapeno Poppers.)  Combine in a large bowl.  Drain off excess liquid. 

2.  Chop cilantro.  Add it to the bowl.  Stir.

3.  Using a microplane or a grater that has small holes, and zest the lime.  Zesting something isn't hard, once you know how to do it.  Here is a picture of the grater I use. 

I use the small holes on my grater.  You could use an actual zester, but this usually creates long strips of zest (you could always chop the strips into smaller pieces).  That's great for a garnish, but not for eating.  Zesting something simply means removing the outermost colored skin of a citrus fruit.  So you would be using the grater to remove this part of the lime.  Just try not to go too deep and remove the white part of the skin underneath.  It's bitter, and you'll be sorry!  Here is a video of how to zest a lemon, if you need further help.

4.  Cut lime in half, squeeze in lime juice.

5.  Salt to taste.

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That's pretty much it.  Many people will tell you that this only keeps 24 hours because the mixture gets watery.  While it's true that the mixture does become a little more watery due to the sugars in the vegetables breaking down, simply drain it off or use a slotted spoon to scoop out your salsa when you serve it.  There is quite a lot of chopping involved so I don't want to have to make it over and over again if I want it a couple of days in a row.  That's just silly.  Especially since it stills tastes amazing well past 24 hours.  In fact, I'd say you can get about 5 days out of it before it's not "Fresh Tomato Salsa" anymore. 

We most often eat it with tortilla chips, but we have found other uses for it.  Here is one of our favorites.

Breakfast Burritos

Here's what you need:

1 tortilla

2 eggs

2 pieces of Canadian Bacon

1 slice American Cheese

Fresh Tomato Salsa

Here's how you make it:

1.  Lightly beat the eggs.  Add the eggs and the salsa to a frying pan.  Cook through (essentially you are making scrambled eggs).

2.  Meanwhile, cook the Canadian bacon.

3.  Place a tortilla on a plate.  Place the cheese on the tortilla, then the Canadian bacon, then the egg mixture. 

4.  Roll into a burrito and enjoy.

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This burrito is good for you and amazingly satisfying.  And the possibilities are endless.  You could use whatever cheese or meat you like.  We have made this before with smoked turkey breast deli meat and Anthony had made his with pepperoni before.  Anthony also likes to add some hot taco sauce to his.

Sincerely,

The girl who would totally have a Chipotle in her mansion if she were a millionaire.