Tex Mex Pico de Gallo, Salsa Fresca, and Restaurant Style Salsa

This is not my photo, I found it on the interwebs,
but this IS what my salsa looks like... I apologize up front for the
lack of photos in this post--I was not expecting to make this a post yet...
I'll replace this photo with a gorgeous shot of mine flanked by blue
corn chips one day... but not today.

 In Texas, pico/salsa/guacamole isn't just for football season or game-watching parties, these items are almost a daily food staple (at least in my house).  Dinner isn't ready yet?  Break out the chips and salsa.  You haven't the faintest idea what to cook for dinner?  Break out the chips and salsa and snack until you do.  Guests randomly show up at your house because that totally happens in Texas (friends are awesome!)?  Break out the chips and salsa.  

If you still don't get it, we don't need to have a reason to eat salsa.  We just eat it.  Period.  And, it's delicious and actually good for you (especially the spicier you make it)!  Sure, salsa is better for you if you dip veggies in it or use it as a salad dressing, but a few organic blue corn chips can't be that bad, right?!

Now, back to the task at hand... why I made salsa instead of bought it from the grocery store because that's ten times quicker and we live in an instant-gratification type society.  I made it because I despise jar salsa for many reasons--and the reason I will give you today is the amount of preservatives you subject your body to by eating jarred/canned salsa.  Also, fresh salsa just tastes so much better, people!

Before I get into my actual recipes (because I'm giving you three recipes for the price of one; you're welcome), I'll give you a salsa education really quick!  Pico de gallo (pico for short), Salsa fresca, and Restaurant-style salsa are all slightly different.  Pico and Salsa fresca are practically the same thing, but here in Texas, pico is quite a bit chunkier than salsa fresca.  

The picture at the beginning of the post is what I consider salsa fresca because you can see bits of onion, garlic, tomato, cilantro, and jalapenos, but it's combined enough that you couldn't really separate the entire bowl into ingredients, whereas with pico, because the chunks are large enough, you could easily pull out all the onions, tomatoes, cilantro, etc.  Restaurant-style salsa is completely different in that it is cooked, so the tomatoes become slightly stewed.  With restaurant-style salsa, it's hard to tell where the tomato stops and the onion begins, and usually the only thing you can pick out of the salsa would be the jalapeno seeds and maybe a little cilantro.

Yes, there will be a test.  I'll show you 12 pictures and you will need to be able to decide whether I am showing you pico de gallo, salsa fresca, or restaurant-style salsa.  Not really.  There will be no test.

Here is what my salsa fresca and restaurant-style salsa looked like last night, after I put them in jars.  Sorry I don't have any other pictures (maybe I'll go back and add pictures later after I make it again).  I wasn't expecting to put this recipe up so soon, but I had a sizable request from Facebook!  :)

It's hard to tell from the photo, but the salsa fresca has a slightly chunkier
consistency and a pink, frothy tint from the food processing of the tomato.

Here's a quick shot of the seasonings I used for the restaurant-style salsa.
I wanted to point out the SMOKED paprika and the chipotle chili powder.

Heather's Homemade Pico de Gallo, Salsa Fresca, 
and Restaurant-Style Salsa

Ingredients
Fresh Ingredients
-  6-8              Roma Tomatoes, sliced
-  1 med.         Yellow Onion, chopped (yellow is sweeter and has more flavor than white onions)
-  4-6 cloves    Garlic, peeled and chopped
-  2 med.         Jalapenos, chopped but not de-seeded
-  1 large         Lime, juiced (don't use bottled juice, people)
-  To Taste      Cilantro  (I tend to use about 1/3 of the bunch)

Seasonings/Spices
-  2-3 tsp.       Sea Salt
-  1-2 tsp.       Granulated Sugar (to taste, sprinkling)
-  To Taste      Smoked Paprika (I use between 1/8 and a 1/4 tsp.)
-  To Taste      Garlic Powder (I use between 1/2 and a full tsp.)
-  To Taste      Onion Powder (I use between 1/2 and a full tsp.)

Extra Ingredients (Restaurant-style Salsa)
-  To Taste      Chipotle Chili Powder (I use between 1/8 and a 1/4 tsp.)
-  To Taste      Ground Cumin (I use between 1/8 and a 1/4 tsp.)

Directions
Pico de Gallo
-  Combine the fresh ingredients in a bowl
-  Sprinkle with Salt and Sugar and mix well
-  Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving (overnight is better)

Salsa Fresca
-  Place all fresh ingredients (minus the lime juice) in a food processor and process until pink and frothy
-  Place salsa in bowl and mix in the lime juice, salt, sugar, smoked paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder
-  Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours before serving (overnight is better)

Restaurant-Style Salsa
-  Use the first two steps from the salsa fresca directions, but instead of refrigerating, place contents into a saucepan and stir in the chipotle chili powder and cumin
-  Heat over medium heat until the salsa begins to boil, stirring often
-  Reduce heat to medium-low and let the salsa simmer for at least 5-10 minutes--this will allow some of the liquid to cook off, the heat from the chili powder and jalapenos to release, and turn the tomatoes from pink and frothy to deep red
-  Remove from heat and let cool
-  You can serve this type of salsa warm, at room temperature, or chilled depending on personal taste

NOTES:  Homemade salsa can keep in a refrigerator for up to a week as long as it is stored in a glass container with a lid.  I don't suggest storing salsa in plastic or metal--I was told not to by someone once, so I don't.  Don't ask me why, though, because I have no clue.  I just keep my salsa in a glass bowl or in jars if I will be traveling with them.

BONUS RECIPE!  Did you know that guacamole is just smashed up avocados and salsa?  Essentially, anyway.  So, to turn your salsa fresca or restaurant-style salsa into delicious guacamole, just follow the directions above, then pour some of your salsa into a bowl of smashed avocados (2-4 avocados, pitted, scooped out, and mashed with a fork), and TA DA! Homemade guacamole.  You're welcome!

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken for Tex Mex Dishes

Street Cart Tacos with Cilantro Lime Rice and Charro Beans

It's okay to be jealous.  I ate everything on that plate last night and fell asleep in a completely blissful Tex Mex coma, and it was everything I hoped it would be and more.  You, too, can have such an amazing dinner on a week night, after work, with about 10 minutes of prep time the night before (or the morning of), and 30 minutes of cooking time when you get home from work (to make your sides and heat up your tortillas because the chicken was finished before you got home), but it will appear to your husband or guests that you took the day off and slaved over a hot stove for 10-12 hours just for them.  And, you can let them believe that, totally.  I won't tell.  Go for it!  ;o)


I developed this recipe from one I found on Pinterest.  I basically took a "cilantro lime shredded chicken" recipe and changed it up a bit not only to suit my own Tex Mex loving tastes, but because taco seasoning packets are not only terrible for you (picture ingesting the stuff that comes in your shoes that you take out and throw away because the little packets tell you not to ingest), but they are pretty much as far from "authentic" Tex Mex as you can get.  It's like eating canned salsa from New York City.  New York City?  Yeah, that's right.  I went there.  Don't get me wrong.  I've had great "Tex Mex" as far north as Idaho, but there is still a difference between what other states refer to as "Tex Mex" and what Texas refers to as Tex Mex.  I'm not "doggin'" your state "brah", I'm just letting you know that my definition of Tex Mex refers to what San Antonio and south Texas calls Tex Mex.  There are even some Tex Mex places here in the DFW area that don't live up to my "Tex Mex Snob" standards.


Side note: I also find that most Pinterest recipes don't ever have enough garlic, so my rule of thumb, unless the recipe calls for 10 cloves of garlic because the writer of that blog also shares my obsession with garlic, I tend to double or triple the garlic content, and for this particular recipe I was basing mine off of, which had ZERO cloves of garlic (I know, right?! I about passed out when I saw that!), I immediately made a mental note to pretty much throw in an entire bulb.


So, back to the task at hand: getting awesome San Antonio Tex Mex flavor regardless of where you are in the world.  


Every good Tex Mex dish starts with a well-seasoned meat.  Once you have a well-seasoned meat, you can create anything from street cart tacos to natchos, quesadillas, and enchiladas.  The combinations are endless at that point.  But, it's important to note that the fresher your ingredients, the better-seasoned and flavorful your end product will be.


For this dish, you will need chicken, fresh salsa, fresh pico, fresh cilantro and garlic, a lime or two, and a handful of seasonings.  I do not condone the use of canned salsa in my home (unless we're having a large group of people over and I don't have time to make any or the market is out of their own fresh salsa) because I personally find fresh salsa to be way more mind-blowingly good than the mass-produced stuff, whether it's produced in San Antonio or Seattle, Washington.  Plus, fresh salsa is super easy to make.  Remind me again in a month or so and I'll create a post dedicated to the art of salsa-making because there are so many different combinations and styles you can make.  

Everything you need to make shredded chicken in a slow cooker!

But, with all that said, if you have to buy a canned salsa because you either don't want to or know how to make fresh salsa or because your market doesn't make salsa, make sure to choose a canned salsa that you know and love.  You can even change the flavor of this chicken depending on the style of salsa you choose: salsa fresca (uncooked, just pureed) is going to taste completely different than a fresh or canned fire-roasted salsa.


As for pico, if your market doesn't carry fresh pico de gallo, find a new market.  Kidding!  I know markets carrying fresh salsa, pico, and guacamole are often hard to find once you find yourself out of the south or southwest.  Pico is super easy to make yourself--just grab a large, yellow onion, a couple tomatoes, a couple jalapeno peppers, a handful of cilantro, and a little lime juice; mix it all together, and there you have it!  Bonus!  Two "recipes" for the price of one!


Once you have all of your ingredients ready, layer it all in the slow cooker.  By the way: to make this recipe as is, you will need to break out the large slow cooker, not the one you use to make appetizers and dips.  You will need the, "I'm cooking for 12 people" slow cooker.

Here is my slow cooker completely packed with yummy goodness!

Once everything is layered and ready, you can either put a lid on it and store it overnight in the refrigerator (which is what I do because I cannot sleep through the night when deliciousness is cooking in the slow cooker), or if you are putting this together in the morning, you can go ahead and throw it into the slow cooker and start the 10 hour cooking process.


After those devilishly-long 10 hours are over, you can shred the chicken with two forks or a fork and a set of tongs.  After the meat is finished cooking and it's been shredded, the rest is up to you!  


You can simply throw this chicken into a bowl, sprinkle some cheese on top and attack it with tortilla chips (which is what I did to "taste" it yesterday).  You can throw the chicken into doubled-up corn tortillas, add your favorite toppings, and have tacos.  You can put it in flour tortillas, sprinkle with fresh tomatoes, lettuce, and cheese and have your own "Taco Tuesday" (for all my Rosa's Tortilla Factory-loving friends out there).  You can use this chicken as the base for enchiladas.  You can mix in cooked rice and stuff bell peppers with the chicken, sprinkle with cheese and bake them for stuffed peppers.  You can place it between two flour tortillas with cheese and make a quesadilla.  


If you haven't figured it out yet, you can pretty much make any kind of Tex Mex chicken dish with this pot of goodness.  If you have any questions though regarding what would be good or not so good to make with this recipe, feel free to ask it in the comments, and I'll be happy to steer you one way or another!

The finished product! Drooling yet?

Slow Cooker Shredded Chicken (for Tex Mex dishes)


Ingredients

 -  1 pkg.         Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

 -  1 pkg.         Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs

 -  24 oz.         Fresh Salsa

 -  8 oz.           Fresh Pico de Gallo

 -  1 med.        Lime, juiced

 -  ½ cup         Fresh Cilantro, chopped

 -  4-6 cloves   Fresh Garlic, chopped

 -  3 lg. tsp.     Garlic Powder

 -  3 lg. tsp.     Onion Powder

 -  2 lg. tsp.     Chili Powder

 -  1 lg. tsp.     Ground Cumin

 -  1 lg. tsp.     Cayenne Pepper

 -  To Taste     Cracked Black Pepper (no need to add salt to this recipe)

      Directions

      -  In a bowl, mix together garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, ground cumin, cayenne pepper, fresh cracked black pepper, and fresh chopped garlic cloves.  

      Note: for these seasonings, you can use as much as you like.  Because I don't like Cumin and Chili Powder and much as I like Garlic and Onion, I toned those two back, but you can use as much as 3 full teaspoons of each seasoning.  Also, when I say "large teaspoon", I mean heaping, not a leveled-off teaspoon.  We're not measuring baking soda for cookies here, we're making stewed chicken.  :)

      -  Place some pico on the bottom of the slow cooker.

      -  Place the chicken breast on top of the pico in a single row and cover with some more pico, salsa, and seasonings mixture.    

      -  Layer the thighs on top, and cover with the rest of the pico, salsa, and seasonings mixture.

      -  Add the fresh cilantro and lime juice on top, cover, and cook on low for 10 hours.

      -  Once the ten hours is up, take the lid off and shred the chicken with two forks.