pico de gallo: the best mexican salsa ever.

Doesn't that just look so yummy? That is how Aaron and I eat 3 tomatoes in one meal. Whenever I went to Mexico this was always my favorite salsa and when we first got married I tried making it but I never had exactly what I needed so I'd improvise, lemon instead of lime, dried cilantro instead of fresh, hot sauce instead of peppers. For some reason it was never has good. Well last month we went to a taco stand down the street from us and I was complaining to the owner why all Mexican joints charge EXTRA for this type of salsa. By the end of the conversation he was telling me how he makes it. He didn't give any amounts but you usually judge that by taste anyway so here's what I came up with.

Pico De Gallo
- 4 medium size roma tomatoes
- 1/2 a medium onion (I usually use 1/3 of a vidalia onion)
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (so that there's lots of green bits for every bite!)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- the juice of 2 limes (about 1/2 cup if you're cheating and using bottled juice)
- 1/4 cup orange juice (this is the "secret ingredient" that the taco stand guy suggested, I use it if I have it but plenty of Mexicans don't use it so whatever!)
- serano pepper to taste. I have jalapeno plants growing in my garden so I use them and they have less heat. Any hot pepper is good just add a little bit at a time or your husband will need tums. (Edited to add- take out the seeds from the peppers to be able to control the heat better!)

Chop the tomatoes and the onions up into little tiny squares (maybe about 1/4"x1/4"?). Chop the cilantro up so that it doesn't look like a plant in the salsa. I cut about an inch of hot pepper and then slice it into fine little sticks and then chop it. (Each piece ends up being about 1/16"x1/16"?) Dump everything into a bowl and mix. Chill and serve with taco chips, tacos, quesadillas or anything even remotely Mexican sounding. :)