I wanna share with you all a very simple, straight forward way we enjoy nopales at my house. Which is simply grilled, and we serve it with any meat dish preferably grilled meats, but any Mexican stewed meat or fried meat dish goes well, paired with corn tortillas and if you'd like refried or boiled pinto beans.
Ingredients:
-cactus pads (cleaned, thorns/ spines removed)
-salt and pepper to taste (or your favorite meat seasoning)
-oil to coat cactus pads
Directions:
(1) If you bought cactus pads with the thorns uncleaned or picked them yourself, simply, trim off the edges like so
then put the knife on an angle and scrape forward several times both sides,
then then scrape the towards the ends,
rinse well, and remove any stubborn thorns or brown spots with your knife, wash and pat dry.
(2) Rub oil on cactus pads, season liberally with salt and pepper or your favorite meat seasoning.
(3) Then put on a very hot griddle or nonstick pan or grill on high heat and cook 4-5 minutes on each side.
(4) Remove and set aside on a plate, pile them up til your done.
PLEASE NOTE:
*My mother likes using a meat seasoning in her Mexican cooking called "Chef Merito" meat seasoning which is a very FLAVORFUL mexican spice blend of salt, sugar, citric acid, black pepper, cumin, paprika, star anise, msg, onion powder, and oregano. She tells me it's the closest thing she has found in the USA to the meat seasonings she grew up with in Mexico. Mmmm... a steak marinaded with that spice blend, with a splash of orange juice some fresh sliced onion and minced cilantro is so delicious when cooked in a hot pan or grill (trust me that's how Vallarta seasons their meats I know it ;)
If interested in other recipes that use Nopales check out my post for:
"Ensalada de Nopales" (Cactus Salad)