There’s nothing better on a late summer afternoon than a dish of fresh salsa, some chips, and a margarita.
Salsa Crude (Pico de Gallo)
This recipe is an easy, classic chunky tomato salsa, posted at the request of my friend Robin for his daughter Felicity. It’s great by itself with corn chips, or as an accompaniment to fajitas, grilled steak or fish. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 1 lb/500g fresh, ripe tomatoes
- 1/2 a red onion
- 1 Jalapeno pepper, seeded & deveined
- 1 clove garlic (more if you like)
- Half a bunch of fresh cilantro/coriander
- 1 or 2 limes
- Salt & Pepper to taste
The first thing you’ll want to do is seed the tomatoes. Cut the tomatoes in half, cutting through the circumference (i.e. not through the stem). Cup half of a tomato in the palm of your hand and squeeze gently. If the tomato is really ripe, the seeds should squeeze out of the cavities between the fleshy parts pretty easily. If the tomato is a bit firmer, you may need to scoop them out with your finger. Don’t worry about bruising the tomatoes – as long as you don’t squeeze too hard, it won’t matter. You’re going to chop them up anyway.
When you’ve seeded all of the tomatoes, chop them up – however coarse or fine you like – and throw them into a mixing bowl. Then finely dice the red onion and the jalapeno and add to the bowl. Mince the garlic and add it too. Pull the leaves off the cilantro, chop them coarsely and add to the bowl. Cut the lime in half and squeeze it into the bowl. Mix it all up and give it a taste. Add salt and pepper if you like. If it’s a little dry, or not tart enough, squeeze in the other lime.
If you want it hotter, you can add another jalapeno, or use something hotter (like a habanero). You can also make this in the food processor if you want a smoother salsa. If you do, it’s even more important to seed the tomatoes. The seeds are bitter if you chop them up in a food processor – a few are OK, all of them will ruin the salsa.
Classic Margaritas
If you feel like going all out, why not make some margaritas too? Fresh squeezed lemon or lime juice, a little simple syrup to sweeten it up a bit, good tequila and some Grand Marnier are all you need.
Put 1/2 cup water and 1/2 cup sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally until the sugar has all dissolved (this should only take a few minutes), then remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Squeeze half a dozen medium sized lemons or limes. Mix in your simple syrup to sweeten the juice to your taste. Go a little on the tart side, as the Grand Marnier is pretty sweet too.
Fill medium sized margarita glasses, wine glasses, or tumblers with ice. Add 50 ml of your favorite tequila, and 25 ml of Grand Marnier. Top off your glasses with the sweetened juice, give them a good stir, add a lime wedge, and drink up.
Margaritas are traditionally served in a glass rimmed with salt – I don’t usually bother because it’s kind of a nuisance, but I do like the contrast of sweet and salty, if someone else is doing the prep… If you want to give it a try, pour a few tablespoonfuls of salt into a flat dish or saucer. Take a lime wedge and run it around the edge of the glass to wet the top centimeter or so, including the rim, then turn the glass upside down and swirl it around in the salt. You should get a rim of salt sticking to the lime juice. Fill with ice and mix drinks as above.
If you want a more elegant presentation, mix a batch of drinks in a cocktail shaker filled with ice, shake well, then strain into martini glasses.
Finally, a note about tequilas: there are three major classifications of tequila…
- Silver – This is young, unaged tequila. It is colorless, and has the lightest, crispest flavor. Good in margaritas.
- Reposado – tequila aged between 2 months and 1 year. This tequila generally has a straw color to it, and has a bit more flavor. Also good in margaritas – maybe add a bit more tequila, a bit less grand marnier to bring out the flavor of the tequila.
- Anejo – tequila aged more than a year. Anejos are darker in color (some will look like scotch) have the most flavor, and may be drowned out by the other flavors in a margarita. A good tequila anejo is nice by itself (but please don’t shoot it with salt and lime).
Not too long ago, you could pretty much only get Jose Curvo silver or gold (blech). Now, there are literally hundreds of different tequilas available. I’m partial to El Tesoro myself, although I think it was recently bought by Fortune Brands company. Sauza and Herradura are also good bets that are widely available. If you find yourself in a store that carries a wide variety of smaller brands, try something expensive – you’ll be surprised how good it is.
