LitlJay's “Better than the Restaurant” Pico De Gallo

(So good that you won't believe how easy it is to make!)

3 very large tomatoes (“sandwich” tomatoes work best if you can find them; they are huge and have very few seeds)

½ small or medium white onion

1 green onion

1 teeny-tiny tomatillo (about 1” to 1-½” diameter), or ½ of one if you can't get one small enough

½ serrano pepper

½ jalapeño pepper

¾ cup white vinegar

1 clove of garlic (not to be mistaken with a whole “head” or “bulb”!!! a “clove” is only a segment!)

2 teaspoons dried cilantro

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

¾ cup lime juice

1-½ cup cold water

Peel and chop the tomatoes into ~¼” cubes, removing the juice and seeds as you go. You should only have “meat”. Put them into a large mixing bowl. Do the same with the white onion, green onion, and the tomatillo.

Remove the seeds and meat from the serrano pepper and jalapeño pepper and set them aside. Flatten the peppers on the cutting board and cut them into 1/8” strips lengthwise, then cut the strips into ¼” pieces and add them to the bowl.

If you want your Pico De Gallo to have “heat”, take some of the seeds from the peppers (more seeds = more heat, obviously) and add them to the vinegar in a blender. Run the blender at full speed until the seeds are ground up and mixed in thoroughly. Set the vinegar aside for now.

Peel the garlic clove and mash it in a garlic press, then add it to the bowl.

Add the cilantro, salt, pepper, lime juice, and water. Stir and add and vinegar, then mix very throughly with a spoon.

Cover tightly and chill 6 to 8 hours, stirring every hour. Drain and chill until ready to serve.

Yields: ~9 cups