Thanksgiving with a touch of the Southwest

Turkey and dressing again this year for Thanksgiving, I ask?  Yes, and sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls, cranberry sauce and both pumpkin and pecan pies, my family replies.  Not much room for innovation here.

But I'm going to sneak in a Southwest appetizer - Pico de Gallo.  The literal translation is "Rooster's Beak." Maybe the name comes from the 'pecking' you get from the jalapeño peppers in this fresh salsa.

Pico de Gallo is one of the few dishes I can prepare without slavishly following a recipe. So, it's hard to share the recipe, but I'm going to give it a try.

Here are the ingredients.

fresh jalapeño peppers

roasted and peeled green chile peppers

fresh tomatoes

red onion

garlic

fresh cilantro

salt and pepper

fresh lime juice

You may notice that there are several fresh items on the list.   The first step is a trip to the grocery store. Fresh cilantro only lasts a couple of days in the refrigerator.  (I've even tried cutting the stems a bit and putting the bunch of cilantro in a glass of water in the fridge.)  But if you have to make the trip for cilantro, you might as well buy other items as fresh as possible also.

Then there is the decision about amounts. It's all about personal choice.  Do you like your salsa fiery?  We do at my house. I put on plastic gloves, deseed and devein the jalapeños, and chop them and the green chiles very fine.  If chopping the chiles is making my eyes water, I add fewer.  Another idea is to add some of the chiles to the mixture, taste the sauce, and add more if you want to. It works better that way than to try to fish out those green specks as your guests are breaking out in perspiration from the chile heat.

Finely chopped tomatoes, finely chopped red onion, finely chopped garlic, finely chopped cilantro go in next. Once again, personal taste for amounts reigns here.  The finishing touches are salt, pepper and fresh lime juice.

The dish is ready to eat immediately or chill in the fridge until guests arrive.  Pico de Gallo is very tasty, very healthy, and very easy to make.  My dilemma comes with the dipper.  Traditional tostadas are probably the best dipper, but they don't make anyone's list of healthy foods.  What I do sometimes, if I am feeling particularly righteous about my eating habits, is steam small corn tortillas in the microwave or on a comal (griddle). The calories are still there, but at least I can control the salt and oil.

Another idea is to sauté the mixture above (minus the cilantro), add a little white cheese, and make chile con queso.  This dip won't give you the food guilts like the chile con queso make with (horrors)  processed cheese spread.

Now, if I could just locate a healthy dipper.  Somehow pico de gallo on a celery stick just doesn't get it.   Any ideas?