The Ranch Kitchen's Pico De Galo

Click here for a recipe card of Pico de Galo

I miss summer.  I miss my flowers, my garden and most especially our homegrown tomatoes.  I am starting to be sick of winter and all that comes with it. EVERY mosquito in my yard should be dead by now.  And we are ready to camp, wear short sleeved shirts and grill outside again! Winter needs to go away quietly, but for some reason this year it's wetter, colder, and more miserable than we ever remember!

I don't think it's because I'm getting old.  I do however think it's because like so many of us this year our winter in the south, north, east and west has been the most brutal we can imagine.  My heating bill attest to it and we've burned more fires in our fireplace than in the past!  My husband said the other night he had built his last fire in the fireplace....Kyle and I think differently!

I had a few minutes to blog tonight and found a post of my summer tomatoes where I had posted the pictures above and below with the intent of posting the recipe some day soon.  Oh, how it made me ready for summer and this Pico de Galo!  Honestly though, this tomato side dish can be made anytime of year.  In Texas it's made year round in Mexican restaurants to go on the side of fajitas (beef skirt steak with bell peppers and onions served steaming hot on hot flour tortillas) or as a type of chunky salsa to dip your chips in (fried corn tortilla chips). 

The recipe pretty much follows what I have included below, but you can make variations by adding guacamole, sweet banana or bell peppers.  We love lots of lemon or lime juice in ours and I especially love using my Persian limes from my pot off my back porch.  And that makes me realize that I didn't think about how much I missed my fresh limes! 

Pico de Galo will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days and I have been known to add more tomatoes to it to keep it going bringing it out at dinner each night.  This dish isn't just for Mexican food and is great with just about anything be it summer, winter, spring or fall.

The Ranch Kitchen's Pico de Galo

8 tomatoes, chopped in 1/2 inch cubes

1 sweet white onion or red onion, chopped fine

1 bell pepper, seeded and chopped fine (optional)

1 sweet banana pepper, chopped fine

1 bunch cilantro, chopped fine

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped fine (seeding takes our some of the heat)

1 lime or lemon, juiced

1 teaspoon garlic salt

1 teaspoon pepper

Cut up tomatoes, onions, bell and sweet peppers, cilantro and jalapeno pepper.  You use the food processor for the peppers on the pulse button to get my vegetables to the right consistency.  I don't suggest pulsing the tomatoes in the food processor as they may get too mushy.  I like my tomatoes firm for my Pico.  Add all seasoning and taste.  If you need more lemon or lime juice, garlic salt or pepper, just add it to your own liking.





Looking at this picture from last summer really makes me wish for

summer and our  garden tomatoes!



Grilled Tomatoes with Cheese

One of the last hauls from our garden in the summer of 2013

Grilled Tomatoes with Cheese

Before I tried these grilled tomatoes, I would have thought it was pretty much a crime to smother my fresh, garden tomatoes in cheese and grill them.  But, when you try this simple recipe, you'll understand why. The acidity level remains on these fresh or if you buy organic tomatoes; and the grill brings out that sweetness that you usually only get in the summer.

Make sure you use the non-stick foil or spray your foil with oil before placing your tomatoes on it.  Use any variety of cheese and grill until the cheese is just melted.  I like to season the tops of the tomatoes with garlic salt and pepper before I add my two layers of cheese.

Grilled Tomatoes with Cheese

5 - 6 medium or large tomatoes
Parmesan cheese, grated
Colby Jack or cheddar Cheese, grated
Oil
Garlic salt, pepper or to taste

Prepare foil lined pan for spreading oil evenly, dredging the tomatoes on both sides to moisten in the oil.  Sprinkle with garlic salt and pepper.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese and then top last with Colby Jack or cheddar cheese. Grill on a medium heat/fire until the cheese is melted.  Serve immediately with any main or side dishes. 

This is one of my husbands favorite ways to eat tomatoes. 

Enjoy!   

Alise

Not Your Everyday Veggie Platter

I think people truly miss the boat on a great salad!  A great salad doesn't always have to be tomatoes, lettuce, and a calorie overload of dressing.  A good salad can be anything you want it to be.  This summer in an attempt to use my favorite serving dishes and eat the bumper crop of tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers from my garden, I thought about color.  Yes, color.  Color does please the eye.  As teachers we always laugh at our menu from our cafeteria.  We decided long ago that color plays a major role in what they serve on our trays each day.  The combinations are sometimes surprising, but always colorful. I don't know about you, but when I serve hot dogs in my house, I always place a healthy serving of cooked spinach right beside it, don't you?  As the kids say...not!  I say all of this in dear respect for our cafeteria cooks who honestly due to their good cooking have helped me add on the pounds over the years!  I realize that menu choice and selection are far, far out of their hands! 

I could rant on this for days, so back to my recipe of the day.  This really isn't a recipe...just a way to serve a salad in a different way.  In an attempt to make my dinner colorful, I got creative with my crudites or veggie platter.  My new white dishes from Crate and Barrel are the perfect white to complement the reds, greens, whites and yellows I serve on these plates.  On the side, you can really choose any dressing from light to creamy, or with nothing at all.  I like to add color when I serve my dressing in the choice of serving bowl I use.

Below is my salad platter.  There's no recipe...so be creative. Some of you may say to yourself that you do this all the time.  But what I have been delighted with most in doing this blog is that it is the simple things to me that are new things to others.  We all were a budding cook at one time, or didn't have the privilege as I did to watch my granny and mother cook meals night after night.  We are turning into the fast food nation, when honestly if you just shop ahead and plan a slight bit ahead, meals are not all that hard to prepare. 

It's my greatest hope that it's the simple ideas and recipes I share that will ultimately prompt you to cook for not only yourself, but for your family and friends.  As a teacher ultimately at heart, and mom that hopes my girls will be proud one day that my recipes are archived and online for them, I hope to make cooking look easy to the young and old. Because it; that is cooking, really, really is.  Promise!


Note:  You'll notice the open faced hand sandwiches I have beside the vegetable platter with my favorite Ranch Dressing.  Even sandwiches can be creative! 

Simple, easy...and it doesn't have to be a work of art getting salad on the table.

Alise



Susie B's Tomato Pie

Many of us are still getting bumper crops of tomatoes out of our gardens. My friend Susie Bullock shared this recipe with me via Facebook the other day and I had to share it!  She is enjoying her garden this year as many of us are here in Texas due to the great rains we are getting.  Susie has a precious family and with two daughters attending Texas A&M this fall!  


I know you will enjoy it as much as her family and friends!  

Susie B's The Tomato Pie Recipe 

Pie Crust:

1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup Crisco
3 Tablespoons of ice water

Mix flour & salt together and then add the Crisco. Use a fork to mix it until it crumbles, and then add the water a tablespoon at a time. Knead the dough and then roll it out.  I used a round cake pan to get the deep dish effect.

Tomato Pie:

5 sliced fresh tomatoes (or I'm sure you could use canned ones too) 
1/2 an onion
Garlic Salt to taste ( I used a teaspoon)
Hidden Valley Ranch dry seasoning (I used 1 tablespoon)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 shredded cheese
Sea Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Drain the tomatoes in a strainer and then add the other ingredients and stir.

I baked the pie crust in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, and then pulled it out and added a layer of cheese to prevent the crust from getting soggy when the tomato mixture was added.  I  then put it back in the oven to cook for another 10 minutes. Then I pulled it out and added the tomato mixture and sprinkled a little cheese on top. Put it back in the oven for about 15 minutes or so.

I hope that you like it as much as I did. 

Susie Bullock