Play-By-Play Pico de Gallo

There are several unspoken, fundamental, and "sacred" rules in our home.

First, you must take off your shoes before entering the house.

Second, if you use up the last of the toilet paper, then you must replace the roll and make sure that the toilet paper dispenses from the top (frontwards), and not the bottom (backwards).

Third, during football season, the salsa bowl in the fridge must never be less than 2/3rds empty. Otherwise, any and every household member is responsible for replenishing the salsa, employing whatever means necessary.

I am an Arizona native, the beau is a football fanatic, and thankfully, we both resoundingly agree that pico de gallo is a critical refrigerator staple during the football season.

Although you most likely know how to make pico de gallo, I would like to share my family's recipe, play-by-play, and just in time for the football season.

Play-by-Play Pico de Gallo
4-5 large tomatoes
4-5 large cloves of garlic
1 small or medium lime
1/2 yellow onion
1/4 bunch of cilantro
1 tsp of salt (or more, to taste)
1 jalapeno, de-seeded (optional)

First, using a fine grater, gently zest the peel of the lime. You don't need a lot of zest, a little bit goes a long way. Juice the lime into a large bowl, using a spoon to scrape off the pulp from the peel. Reserve the juice, pulp, and zest in the bowl. Next, remove the papery skins from the onion and garlic, and chop the onion, garlic, and cilantro finely. If you can stand the heat, also de-seed finely chop one green jalapeno, removing the tissue-like membranes inside.


Then, core the tomatoes (removing the inedible naval-ish stem area) and dice the tomatoes into small 1/4 inch pieces. Place the tomatoes in the lime juice.


Combine all the ingredients, and serve with tortilla chips.


The last step, is to enjoy the salsa in front of a thrilling football game. Bon appetit!