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Perfect Pico (de Gallo)

December 17, 2019 By Chef Michelle Hauser MD Leave a Comment

Plant-based Party Food
Party spread featuring Perfect Pico

Pico de gallo is the quintessential fresh salsa (aka. salsa fresca). It is simple to make from common ingredients and a crowd pleaser at any gathering. Because it features vibrant red, green, and white colors, it is a festive addition to a holiday table (note: these are also the colors of the Mexican flag, so it is sometimes called salsa bandera or “flag sauce”). Use pico de gallo for tacos, other Mexican fare, or as a dip. It can also be blended with black or pinto beans to make a simple bean dip. The level of spice is easily adjustable by varying the amount of chili added.

Pico de gallo is a staple oozing with Latin flavor. It also highlights a key principle of healthy, delicious, plant-based cooking—learn to make simple, flavorful sauces utilizing different world flavors and you can turn nearly any combination of whole grains, beans, and veggies (and possibly fruit, nuts, and seeds) into an inexpensive, enticing, healthy, nutritionally balanced meal in minutes…if you know how to cook and meal prep. Because of this, pico de gallo (aka., Perfect Pico) is featured in the first session of my Culinary Medicine Curriculum set to launch via the American College of Lifestyle Medicine for FREE DOWNLOAD tomorrow! 

The Culinary Medicine Curriculum is the first, comprehensive, open-source, curriculum of its kind for health care professional training programs and was designed to fill the gaps in practical nutrition education and dietary behavioral lifestyle change counseling missing (or minimally covered) in most programs. However, it is easily adaptable to a variety other learning environments, including residency programs, health and wellness coaching, and masters level courses. To adapt for patient care, patient education, public-facing education, or undergraduate studies, simply omit the portions of the curriculum focused on teaching health care providers to coach patients on making dietary lifestyle changes—the majority of the curriculum is broadly applicable.

To learn more, check out the Culinary Medicine Curriculum page. Please share your feedback on the curriculum…and the Perfect Pico!

Print

Perfect Pico (de Gallo)

  • Author: Chef Michelle Hauser MD
  • Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups seeded, ¼-inch dice tomatoes (about ¾ pound [340 g])

  • ½ cup [75 g] small dice white onion (about 1 small onion)

  • 1 serrano or jalapeño chili, minced (remove seeds for mild salsa, add another chili for spicy)

  • ¼ cup (10 g) or more finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves

  • Juice of 1 small lime

  • Kosher salt, to taste (optional)—I use ¼ to ½ tsp

Instructions

  1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together diced tomatoes, white onion, chilies, cilantro, ½ of the lime juice and a generous pinch of salt. 
  2. Season to taste with additional lime juice and salt.      

Notes

  • If trying to reduce sodium in your diet, omit salt.
  • You can replace all, or a portion of, the tomato with cucumber for a different twist on this classic sauce.

Nutritional Info (per serving): Calories 13, Total Fat 0g, Saturated Fat 0g, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 50mg, Total Carbohydrate 3g, Dietary Fiber 1g, Sugars 1.6g, Protein 0.5g, Vitamin A 2%, Vitamin C 14%, Calcium 1%, Iron 1%

   

Filed Under: Condiments & Seasonings, Dairy-free Recipes, Gluten-free Recipes, Holidays, Mediterranean Diet Recipes, Mexican & Latin American Recipes, Raw, Recipe by Country/Region, Recipes, Recipes by Diet, Sauces & Salsas, Uncategorized, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes

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Chef Michelle Hauser, MD

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Michelle Hauser
Made in a cooking class with my patients today: Ch Made in a cooking class with my patients today: Chana masala and roasted cauliflower with cumin & coriander; fruit chaat #IndianFood #culinarymedicine #chefinmedicine #chanamasala #fruit chaat #foodismedicine
Mise en place for chana masala with my patients to Mise en place for chana masala with my patients today— Clockwise from the top: garam masala, turmeric, asafoetida, ground cumin, salt, cloves, cinnamon stick, green cardamom, bay leaf, whole cumin seeds, red chili powder (rashampatti) is in the center. #foodismedicine #culinarymedicine #chefinmedicine #indianfood #chanamasala
Gorgeous Buddha Bowls and Steel Cut Oats from toda Gorgeous Buddha Bowls and Steel Cut Oats from today’s Teaching Kitchen course for MD & PA students-photo by the talented @soulfoodsalon (who frequently joins the course as volunteer faculty-thank you!) @stanford.med @chefinmedicine #culinarymedicine
Stanford MD & PA students graduate from the teachi Stanford MD & PA students graduate from the teaching kitchen with honors-so much delicious food shared at the final potluck tonight. Everything had a story, showcased a lesson from the course and students reflected on what they learned that would most help them counsel patients on dietary changes. #culinarymedicine #stanfordmedicine @stanford.med #meded #teachingkitchen @soulfoodsalon #worldflavors #unapologeticallydelicious #healthycooking
Fruit forward desserts prepared by Stanford MD & P Fruit forward desserts prepared by Stanford MD & PA students-SURG 244 The Doctor is In (the Kitchen)—teaching kitchen elective. So delicious 😋-thanks to Drs. Elizabeth Shepard, Sue Kim, and Christopher Gardner along with Lindsay Kennedy, PA and for volunteering to share the overlap of their work and culinary medicine with the students! #CulinaryMedicine #FoodIsMedicine #Dessert #TeachingKitchen #FruitForward #DessertFlip #Nutrition #MedicalEducation #MedEd #stanfordmedicine
The Dietary Spectrum: When Food Becomes Medicine-- The Dietary Spectrum: When Food Becomes Medicine--Keynote presentation filled with tips on guiding patients to make dietary behavior changes. #LM2021 #nutrition #foodasmedicine #behaviorchange #obesitymedicine #culinarymedicine lmconference.org/2021/LM21/index.asp
Just finished a fantastic session with @spiceboxtr Just finished a fantastic session with @spiceboxtravels on implementing culinary medicine in clinical practice! Check out the rest of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine 2021 Annual Conference for a recording and other lifestyle medicine CME opportunities. #LM2021 @aclifemed #CulinaryMedicine #LifestyleMedicine #ObesityMedicine
Eat More Plants bite-sized chat today 10AM PST/12 Eat More Plants bite-sized chat today 10AM PST/12 CST for Lifestyle Medicine Week #ACLifeMed #lifestylemedicine #foodismedicine
Ready to record a bite-sized chat on the WHAT, WHY Ready to record a bite-sized chat on the WHAT, WHY, and HOW to Eat More Plants for #LMWEEK. Register at the link above for this and other chats on Lifestyle Medicine topics throughout the week (5/31-6/4) #ACLM #lifestylemedicine #eatmoreplants #foodismedicine
Gorgeous salad from @spiceboxtravels new book, Spi Gorgeous salad from @spiceboxtravels new book, Spicebox Kitchen. Highly recommend! My patients really enjoyed this as well. Orange & Olive Salad with Almonds #chefinmedicine #bloodoranges #salad #spiceboxkitchen #mediterraneanfood #eattherainbow #plantbased #wholefood #vegan #glutenfree
So excited to receive my copy of Spicebox Kitchen So excited to receive my copy of Spicebox Kitchen written by my super talented friend, and doctor-chef, @spiceboxtravels ! I made the Gado Gado tonight and it was enjoyed by all. Can’t wait to try more of her delicious recipes. Do yourself a favor and get this book! #spiceboxkitchen #flavor #spice #culinarymedicine #chefinmedicine
The next adventure—I am officially joining the D The next adventure—I am officially joining the Dept of Surgery as Clinical Associate Professor at Stanford! I am looking forward to working with new colleagues to build a medical/lifestyle weight loss program at Stanford that brings together the best of weight management, internal medicine, lifestyle medicine, culinary medicine, and other specialties to provide multidisciplinary care for patients with overweight and obesity. (I will remain in my other positions as well.) #stanfordmedicine  #obesitymedicine #lifestylemedicine #culinarymedicine #stanfordgensurg #stanfordsurgery #stanfordhealthcare
Second COVID-19 vaccination ✅ So thankful to be Second COVID-19 vaccination ✅ So thankful to be fully vaccinated! #chefinmedicine #covid_19 #vaccine #covidvaccine #pandemic #protectingmeprotectingyou #protectingmyfamily
Excellent Ramen on a chilly day. This was from a h Excellent Ramen on a chilly day. This was from a highly adapted version of Easy Vegan Ramen from @minimalistbaker , but if you follow the recipe it’s sure to turn out delicious 😋 I plan to adapt the broth for Pho next time #chefinmedicine #vegan #plantbased #ramen #eatmoreplants #tofu #soup
Thankful for our little family, our health, having Thankful for our little family, our health, having a roof over our head and food on our plates. Really missing family, too. It has been a year since I’ve seen my parents and siblings, grandparents, and so on. Hoping 2021 brings us together again. Thankful for FaceTime and Zoom in the meantime.
Cooking Demo filming today for Healthy Kitchens, H Cooking Demo filming today for Healthy Kitchens, Healthy Lives: Plant-forward Plate Strategies in the Relentless Pursuit of Deliciousness. Join the virtual conference Feb 3-5, 2021 #CIAHKHL #chefinmedicine #plantforward #plantbased #wholefood #delicious #healthymeals #CulinaryMedicine #TeachingKitchens #CookingIsMedicine #nutrition
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