Driver wrote:

> The restaurants serve it "crisp" and "relatively dry" and that's the part I
> can't reproduce. Mine always turns out "soupy," more of a salsa than a
> relish, as all the Pico recipes say it should be.

Even though pico de gallo is something different to me not involving
chopped tomatoes, chiles and onions, I do sometimes make a coarse
and fairly dry salsa such as you describe. Works great for stuffing
boneless chicken breast or pork tenderloin and for spooning over
most any grilled meat or fish.

Here's what I do...

Using firm fleshed tomatoes (I use roma), peel and seed the tomatoes,
making sure to remove all the gelatinous material in the seed cavities.
Chop the tomatoes and everything else (onions, chiles, cilantro,
whatever) fairly coarse with a sharp knife (so as not to bludgeon
the veggies) and toss together with a few grinds of coarse black
pepper. Dice a couple cloves of garlic, sprinkle with coarse salt
and crush with the tines of a dinner fork. Blend crushed garlic into
the mix. Check for taste and texture, adding a salt and/or ground
black pepper if necessary. If it's too dry, add a squeeze or two
of lime juice, otherwise serve and enjoy.

Rich