Prickly Pear Cactus Recipes

By theadmin

Cooking with cactus is a surprisingly easy (and delicious) way to bring a piece of Texas to your table. The prickly pear cactus (genus opuntia) is the king for culinary uses. Ask anyone familiar with the cuisine of Mexico about cooking with cactus, and you’ll get a roster of recipes — and most likely memories.

Nopales — from the Nahuatl words nochtli or nopalli, referring to the fruit or paddle — are the young pads of prickly pear cacti. Chopped into strips, their flavor is light and mild, like slightly slimy green beans or batons of cucumber.

Use a knife or potato peeler to shave off the spines, or purchase nopal paddles fresh and despined from Mexican grocery stores. Boil in salted water with onion to yield a salad garnished with queso fresco, cilantro, and avocado; mix with water, sugar, jalapeño, and lime for a refreshing granita (Italian ice).

In late summer, the tunas (prickly pear fruits) pink up as they reach maturity. Then you can use their magenta- or fuchsia-colored flesh, which grows with wild abandon, to fashion a sweet, tart purée into prickly pear jam or candy.

Photography by Elizabeth Lavin; Prop Styling by Jamie Laubhan-Oliver; Food Styling by Lisa Martel-Mohon

Prickly Pear Syrup

Leann Berry, manager at the newly revamped modern-Mexican restaurant The Cedars Social in Dallas, crafts an exceptional prickly pear concoction that makes a festive party addition to punch up a Topo Chico or lemonade.

Ingredients:
2 ounces fresh prickly pear purée
5 ounces agave syrup
1 ½ limes (juice)

Method:
Peel and blend the fruit, then strain out the seeds to make your prickly pear puree. Mix well with the agave syrup and lime juice.

Nopal Pico de Gallo

Anastacia Quiñones-Pittman, executive chef at José, an upscale regional Mexican restaurant in Dallas, cooks in ways that reflect her Mexican roots. She pats fresh masa tortillas infused with cilantro or chiles, turning them into dishes that are refined and polished. She remembers resenting nopales as a child every Lent, when they showed up on the table, an abundant, cheap, and nourishing source to replace meat. As a chef, she’s developed an appreciation for them.

Ingredients:
2 cactus paddles, cleaned and diced
2 Roma tomatoes, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 serrano pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 teaspoons white vinegar
Salt, to taste

Method:
To make her refreshing nopal pico de gallo, toss together your ingredients and season with salt to taste. Fold into scrambled eggs, serve with warm corn tortillas, and top with queso fresco to make her nopalitos con huevos.