Cocinando con Cactus

Nothing sounds as appetizing as a prickly cactus, right? Those were my thoughts exactly when I saw cactus leaves at my local grocery store! I had nopales (prickly pear cactus) for the first time at one of my favorite restaurants, Gracias Madre, in the Mission District of San Francisco. They taste like a slightly tart, very meaty green vegetable. The deliciousness of the Gracias Madre nopalitos and the fact that I'd get to hack at a cactus made me decide that this would be a fun experiment to try!

I decided to make a roasted nopales salad, and here is the recipe! I have to admit that I was pleased with the result, and will certainly be cooking cactus again sometime soon!

Ingredients (serves 2):
1 cactus leaf
1/2 onion
1/2 bell pepper (any color)
handful of frozen petite white corn
2 small tomatoes
1 avocado
few jalapeno slices (fresh or pickled)
few sprigs of cilantro
lime (optional)

olive oil or olive oil spray
salt
black pepper
taco seasoning
corn tortillas

The steps:
1. Clean the cactus...you really don't want to eat the spines! In other recipes, I read that people use a vegetable peeler to do this, but I found that a knife works best. I shaved against the grain of the spines, rinsing in between to make sure I got all the prickly bits. You do not have to peel all of the skin, just the bumps and spines. Trim away 1/4inch of the edge all the way around the leaf.
2. Dice the cactus into 3/4inch pieces.
3. Place on a baking sheet, sprinkle with taco seasoning and a little salt, and drizzle or spray with olive oil.
4. Roast at 375°F for 20mins and then broil for 5min.
5. In the meantime, dice the bell pepper, onion, and corn (defrosted). Place on a baking sheet with salt, taco seasoning, and olive oil.
6. Broil the bell pepper, onion, and corn for 10-15mins till the vegetables start to brown.
7. Mix everything together with diced tomatoes and avocado. Add some chopped cilantro, chopped jalapenos, and black pepper to taste.
8. The cactus can be a little tart, so taste first, and then add lime as needed.
9. I garnished with a corn tortilla cactus and some lime wedges, and served with warm corn tortillas.