Anyone who knows South & Central America will know how much a staple Pico De Gallo is. Order a cerveza anywhere and you’ll get a side of tortilla chips, salsa roja, salsa verde and Pico De Gallo. I wish it was more common over in the UK but sadly the best we can hope for is some bar peanuts (which as a nut allergy sufferer is far from ideal!)
Anyway I digress, Pico De Gallo is essentially a fresh salsa full of life, flavour and freshness. It works great as a side dip for snacks at parties or as an addition to dishes – it’s always a go to for fajitas for me!
Ingredients
- 1 punnet Cherry Vine Tomatoes (roughly 400 grams)
- 2-3 Garlic Cloves
- 1 Shallot
- 1 handful of Flat Leaf Parsley
- 1-2 red chillies
- 2-3 tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 whole Lemon or Lime
- 2 tsp Sherry Vinegar
- Sea Salt
- Black Pepper
Method
Place shallot and garlic in the mixer and blend for 30-40 seconds until all evenly chopped finely.
Add in half the cherry tomatoes and blend for 10-20 seconds – this should break them up and give you a bit of tomato juice.
Pour this into your serving bowl.
Slice up your chillies – I like to keep the seeds in but take these out if you don’t want too much heat.
Add chillies, lemon/lime juice, sherry vinegar and 2 tbsp Olive Oil & mix well.
Chop up the remaining Cherry Tomatoes – I like to do these into quarters, so they are small but still bigger than the previous blended ones and then add to the rest of the ingredients and mix.
Roughly chop the Parsley and add this along with some Sea Salt & Black Pepper.
Give it a good mix and then drizzle over another tbsp Olive Oil on the top.
Tip
- Carefully blend the Shallot & Garlic – you want it chopped fine but not like mush!
- Slice the chillies up fairly small so you get an even distribution of heat throughout the Salsa
- If you don’t have Sherry Vinegar you can use Balsamic Vinegar instead – if you’re using this just use 1 tsp.
- If the Salsa tastes a bit too acidic from the Lemon/Lime and Sherry/Balsamic Vinegar, then just add 1 tsp white sugar.
- Let the Salsa sit for at least 15 minutes to allow all the flavours to combine.