Cactus Salad in New Mexico
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Love to travel, love to cook, and love to grow things = the Travel Cook. This blog is about cooking, understanding cooking, and figuring out ways to cook healthy gourmet meals while you are traveling, camping, boating, and even just hanging out in your own kitchen.Texas has its chili (with an i) but New Mexico has its chile (with an e). In New Mexico, chile (official state spelling entered into the Congressional Record) is all about the sauce, red or green. But more than chile is found in New Mexican restaurants, on home tables, and even in super markets.
New Mexico is also a great big sand box, perfect for growing cactus for hundreds of different dishes, many brought into New Mexico from Mexico. So today's post is all (well at least all I know) about edible cactus.
Today's topic: Cactaceae Opuntia or Prickly Pear Cactus
There are more than 1,000 different species of cactus spread around the globe, but Mexico is the center of this diversity. Many with edible fruits and pads (stems), these mostly leafless plants are not unique to the Americas. Some, like the "dragon fruit" found on Hylocereus undatus and Hylocereus triangularis, have found their way from their native SE Asian homes to become decorative accents in American gardens (Florida among them). Some, like the venerable tree-sized Saguaro, Carnegia gigantea, inhabiting the deserts of the American Southwest, must be about 10 feet tall and 30 years old before they begin flowering (which leads of course to fruiting). And some, like Echinocereus, known as the "Strawberry Cactus," originating in Southern California, Mexico, and Baja (California), are famous for their strawberry (and sometimes raspberry) flavored red or green fruits. For more information on the subject of cactus see Cacti of the Southwest by W. Hubert Earle, The Cactus Family by Edward F. Anderson, and The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cacti by Innes & Glass. The latter reference includes light and soil requirements as well as flowering periods, but only occasional references to hardiness.
In the US, most of the edible cactus parts, stems and fruits, come primarily from the prickly pear cactus. They are known as nopales when whole and nopalitos when chopped small. Nopales and nopalitos appear in cookies (galletas de nopales), jams and jellies, sauces, soups and stews, salads, and in a cactus fries, burritos, enchiladas, tacos, and high fiber fruit juice drinks found in health food stores. Another cactus dish, desayuno or almuerzo (scrambled eggs, diced onion, chile, and tomato), may be served for breakfast or lunch. The list of uses of edible cactus parts is nearly endless, as you will find if you talk with New Mexicans, and nearby Mexico is the world’s center of cactus diversity.
Science Behind the Scenes
Cactus Pads (Paddles) or Nopales
Photograph by Sharon Gilbert
Nopale means cactus in Spanish, and nopales means cactus stems. Most of the green or purple flat, hand-size vegetable pads, or "paddles", sold in US stores are from the cultivated Prickly Pear cactus, Opuntia. The pads are covered with spines (agüates) which have to be removed before eating. Wild Opuntia have more spines on their pads than cultivated cacti, but once these are removed the pads (sometimes called paddles) are edible also.
Several resources mentioned a project at Texas A&M University to develop a spineless pad. Like reducing or altogether removing the onerous peach fuzz on peaches (viva la nectarine), spineless cacti pads would be a boon to harvester, seller, and consumer.
How to choose
- Young, small pads, smaller than a man's hand, that do not yet have mature, large spines
- Bright green
How to Use
How to clean the pads- Use
a knife or potato peeler to cut out the aureoles containing spines; get them all.
- Follow with a brush to scrub the pads to remove any protruding nodes.
- Nodes are the beginnings of new spines and contain tiny hair-like spines which if eaten may cause discomfort.
- Cut off a thin slice all around the edge of the paddle; there are spines there too.
- Wash, pat dry; then cook as desired, or use fresh in salads.
How to cook cleaned nopales
- Use fresh uncooked; cut in matchsticks or small squares.
- Boil nopales -- taste like green beans.
- Wash and cut pad into small squares or strips, if they have not been purchased this way.
- Place in cold water to cover, bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer for 10-15 minutes; add a pinch of baking soda after 10-12 minutes to help extract the sticky substance exuded.
- Grill nopales
- Cut from the wide, rounded outer edges toward the narrow base, but not all the way to the end, fanning out the cuts so that the paddles look fringed.
- Brush with olive or vegetable oil and grill until soft and slightly charred.
- Use grilled nopales in parrillada, or Mexican mixed grill.
- Fried nopales
- Cut into strips, batter-dip, and roll in breadcrumbs, cornmeal or flour; fry like french fries.
- Add cooked nopales to soups, stews, and salads.
- Scrambled
with eggs
- In a taco filling
- Pickled nopalitos, combined with other pickled vegetables, like carrots, jalapenos, and onions, and seasoning
How to Store
- Tightly wrap, fresh (not wrinkled) pads, and store in refrigerator for up to two weeks.
- Very low in Saturated Fat and Cholesterol
- Good source of Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Iron and Copper, Dietary Fiber, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, and Manganese
Cactus Pad Salad (Ensalada de Nopalitos)
Cactus Salad (version 2)
Photograph by Sharon Gilbert
Equipment: potato peeler, sharp paring knife, cutting board
Serves: 2
Ingredients
1-2 small cactus pad (paddles or nopales)
9 green onions, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
6-7 radishes, diced (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup cilantro leaves, finely chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
juice of 1 fresh lime
1/4 teaspoon crumbled, dried oregano leaves
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 Serrano chiles, finely chopped (optional; use other milder green chiles for less heat)
Preparation:
Unless nopales were purchased already cleaned, be sure to clean off the thorns, trim edges, scrub thoroughly with a vegetable brush, and slice into long thin matchsticks.
Place sliced nopales in a salad bowl with radishes, onions, and the cilantro. Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, salt and pepper, and pour over all. Toss to blend well.
So you made too much cactus salad? Turn the left-overs into
Cactus Pico
To the left-over cactus salad add the following ingredients:1 cup seeded diced fresh tomatoes
1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic
1 ½ teaspoons diced jalapenos
Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and let stand covered in refrigerator 1/2 hour or more. Serve with crostini or corn tortilla chips,, serve on seafood, meats, and chicken
The Travel Cook Suggests
I know cactus is not on everyone's wish list when they are hungry, but just one look at all the valuable nutrients and you may change your mind. The real salad was a bit too real for my gourmand photographer, so I tamed it down a bit by adding some of the fresh fruits found at the market today.Quick Shop for Cactus Salad
ProduceEquipment: panini grill, pancake turner, small bowl, vegetable peeler, knife and cutting boardabout ½ pound fresh prepared cactus -- nopales (Nopales are sold already cleaned, and sometimes even sliced or diced; if you have to clean them yourself, follow the directions above. You will need about 3 pads for this recipe.)General Grocery Aisle
1 fully ripe large nectarine
1 juice orange or navel orange
¼ bunch cilantro, fresh
1 medium sweet onion, thinly sliced (about ¾ cup)
1 (8 - ounce) bag pre-washed baby lettuces1 chili in adobo sauce, diced (you may add from ½ - 2 teaspoons adobo sauce -- remember it is HOT
olive oil
mild white vinegar -- (I've used rice wine vinegar)
salt (1- 2 individual serving sized packets -- ½ teaspoon)
pepper (1-2 individual serving sized packets -- ¼ teaspoon)
pecans (or walnuts or even almonds) from 4-ounce packet
Serves: 2-3
Procedure:
Preheat grill if you have one, or preheat the panini.
For using whole fresh pads:
Clean the cactus pads as indicated above. Be sure to remove all the thorns; scrape both sides from the bottom narrow base toward wider end and trim around the outside edge.To Serve: Place lettuce on plates, and place cactus-fruit mixture on top. Sprinkle with more chopped cilantro and toasted nuts.
Rub with oil, season with peppery salt-free seasoning blend. Place onGrill (gas or charcoal, or under oven broiler) and cook 3-5 minutes on a side, until grill marks appear or the leaves turn dark green.Clean and slice nectarine over a small bowl; peel orange, removing all the white pith, and separate into segments.
Panini and cook, with lid closed for 3-5 minutes, until grill marks appear or the leaves turn dark green.
Set grilled or broiled nopales aside to cool; cut into small squares or matchsticks.
Whisk together in a bowl the fruit juices, chile, and 1-2 Tablespoons adobo sauce (more or less adobo to taste); whisk well. Then add olive oil in a slow stream while whisking to form emulsion. Add remaining seasonings and cilantro and mix well. Add fruit, onion, and cactus strips; stir to coat with dressing.
Are you hankering for more salads, soups,or sammies? Visit Kahakai Kitchen on Souper (Soup, Salad & Sammies) Sundays.
In our next post we'll be seeing red in the city of the red rocks, and more than a few cowboy movies. If you don't want to miss any of our posts, sign up for the automatic feed.
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This looks very refreshing and I am impressed you made it in your hotel room.
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Hi Deb, thanks for reading my blog this week. I have been making a lot of different dishes in my hotel room for the last three weeks, just not all of them are soups, salads, or sammies. Look out for the California posts. Tune in regularly to see what the Travel Cook is cooking up now. TCT
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