I haven’t really tasted or smelled much since I had Covid in December 2021. It’s kind of boring and sad, but there are people with worse problems. Where I didn’t enjoy spicy food before, it became the only thing I could glean hints of taste. I even began using mixes from the Spicy section of our spice cabinet, and have tried a lot of foods I was afraid of before.
One thing I noticed when we’d go to Ixtapa Cantina in Lunenburg or The Brick Mexican Grill in Sterling is that their ‘salsa’ is SO much better than we have at home.
Then I decided to really pay attention to see if we could duplicate their recipe and presentation. It turns out that they were serving Pico de Gallo and I was just serving boring Salsa.
Pico de Gallo is made up of freshly chopped ingredients, where Salsa typically involves a food processor and sometimes even cooking, which results in a much more soupy mixture. Pico for the win!
I put my youngest daughter Erin on the task to reverse engineer the restaurant quality Pico de Gallo. She was perfect for the job, as she’s a great cook and actually got her own set of paring knives when she was in Kindergarten and had a creme brulee torch on her wish list for her 9th birthday.
Erin’s Pico de Gallo
Sweet Vidalia Onion, diced
Fresh Tomatoes, diced
Jalapeno Pepper, carefully diced in to very small pieces
Cilantro, finely chopped
Fresh Lime, juiced
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
*Erin lives in an off-campus apartment at UNH, and keeps a pretty good assortment of spices for when it’s her turn to cook.
Guacamole
Avocadoes, cubed then smashed
Jalapeno Pepper, carefully diced in to very small pieces
Fresh Cilantro, chopped
Fresh Lime, juiced
Garlic, chopped
Onion Powder
Salt
Pepper
Cumin, just a dash
Chicken or other protein
Chop and cook protein 90% and add a hefty amount of seasoning and fresh garlic.
Seasonings: Adobo, Cumin, Garlic Powder, Paprika, Pepper, Onion Powder, Salt (not a lot because the Adobo has some already), Cayenne Pepper, Chili Powder
Warm Soft Taco Shells in the chicken/protein pan and melt cheese on the tortilla in the pan. Top with Guacamole and Pico de Gallo.