Nopal en Penca Queretano

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Clay comal or cast iron comal
• •Small cazuela de barro or heavy skillet
• •Blender
• •Kitchen twine or clean ixtle fiber
• •Tongs for grilling

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the nopales

   Rinse the nopal paddles and scrape away every thorn base with a small knife. Trim the dry edge, but do not cut the paddles too thin. You need structure because these will hold filling over the fire. Pat them dry. Wet nopales steam instead of charring.

2. 2

   Toast the chiles

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile ancho and chile guajillo separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side, until they smell deep and the skins loosen. Do not blacken them. Burned chile makes bitter salsa, and no amount of cheese will hide that mistake.

3. 3

   Blend the salsa

   Soak the toasted chiles in hot water for 15 minutes. Drain them and blend with the roasted tomato, oregano, salt, lime juice, and 3 tablespoons of fresh water. Blend until smooth. This salsa should be thick enough to cling to the filling, not run across the board.

4. 4

   Cook the chorizo

   Melt the manteca de cerdo in a small cazuela or skillet over medium heat. Add the chorizo and cook until the fat turns red and the meat is browned at the edges, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the onion and garlic and cook 2 minutes more. La manteca es el sabor. Vegetable oil gives you grease. Manteca gives you depth.

5. 5

   Make the filling

   Scrape the chorizo mixture into a bowl. Let it cool for 5 minutes, then fold in the queso ranchero, chopped cilantro, and 2 tablespoons of the chile salsa. Taste for salt. The filling should be salty enough to season the nopal from the inside.

6. 6

   Stuff the pencas

   Lay 4 nopal paddles flat on the board. Divide the filling among them, keeping it away from the edges. Brush a little chile salsa over the filling. Cover each with a second nopal paddle and tie closed with kitchen twine in two places. Press gently. If filling spills out now, it will spill out on the fire.

7. 7

   Grill over carbon

   Prepare a medium carbon fire or heat a heavy cast iron grill pan. Grill the stuffed nopales 5 to 7 minutes per side, turning with tongs, until the outside blisters, dark green turns olive, and charred spots mark the paddles. The cheese inside should soften and the chorizo fat should stain the edges red.

8. 8

   Rest and serve

   Rest the nopales for 3 minutes before cutting away the twine. Spoon the remaining chile salsa over the top or serve it on the side. Bring them to the table with warm corn tortillas, salsa de xoconostle, and lime halves. No me vengas con atajos. The char is the point.

Chef Tips

• •Choose nopales that are wide, flexible, and bright green, not old paddles with woody centers. If the paddle cracks when you bend it, it is too mature for stuffing.
• •Xoconostle is the Queretaro and Otomi signature sour fruit. Do not replace it with regular tuna or tomatillo and pretend it is the same. If you cannot find it, serve the nopales with the chile ancho salsa alone.
• •For a vegetarian version, use chorizo de soya from a Mexican market and brown it until it loses its raw bean smell. Do not use sweet breakfast sausage seasoning. That is another cuisine.
• •If you grill over carbon, let the flames die down before the nopales go on. You want blistered cactus and melted cheese, not burned twine and raw filling.

Advance Preparation

• •The chile ancho salsa can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Bring it to room temperature before stuffing so it does not chill the filling.
• •The nopales can be cleaned up to 8 hours ahead and refrigerated wrapped in a clean towel. Do not salt them ahead or they will weep.
• •Stuff the paddles no more than 1 hour before grilling. The salt in the cheese and chorizo pulls moisture from the cactus.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 380g)