Nopales. Cactus Preparation and Nopales cotija frittata
I’m not really a huge fan of breakfast. But there are times when the breakfast mood does strike me and making myself breakfast is always the only way to cure it. I don’t wake up early unless I have to. I did while I was going to yoga classes and I might try making myself go in the morning but it’s so hard to get out of bed when I don’t normally go to sleep until after 3AM.
When I was growing up my mom would fix us breakfast. She always made these little potatoes she micro waved with seasoning salt and mixed eggs and Chorizo with them. To this day that’s still one of my favorite breakfast items to eat, though I always roast potatoes in the oven. I’m going to make homemade chorizo soon. And I’m talking about Mexican chorizo not Spanish. On occasion my mom used to also make Nopales and eggs. Nopales are cactus pedals; they are cleaned from their spikes and boiled till tender. Cactus has a flavor unlike anything I’ve ever had before; it’s tangy and has a bit of a slimy texture to them. The slime can be avoided by fresh cactus and double boiling but it’s always going to have a little of that characteristic difference.
I decided I wanted to pick some up from the store and to my surprise fresh cactus is amazing. My mom used to use the kind out of a jar which I think is still good too. Fresh cactus is a little laborious to prepare but once it’s done it’s really amazing. Here’s my recipe for preparing blanched cactus.
Pick Cactus pedals that are not too large or to wilted or shriveled.
The larger they are the tougher they tend to be
Run a knife over the pedals to get off each of the pricks then wash with water to make sure their all gone
Take the cactus and cut it into strips and then into bite sized pieces
After all the chopping and dicing is handled, rinse with water twice.
Place all cacti in a large pot
Cover with cold water
Add about a teaspoon of salt
Boil until just about fork tender about 10-12 minutes depending on how large your pot of water is and how much cactus is in it this time will vary so go off the tenderness of the cactus you don’t want them to be hard but they can’t be mush
The water will be really thick drain it off
Add fresh water to nopales and cook for about 5 minutes
Drain again
Use cooked cactus in any way you’d like
With this cactus I made a quick Frittata with Cotija cheese, spinach, tomatoes and cactus.
I love Cotija cheese, it’s a Mexican cheese that is called Cotija because that’s the city in Mexico… Cotija, Michoacán where it was first made. Cotija is a hard cow’s milk cheese that can have a similar flavor to a mixture of feta and Parmesan. I love both hence loving this cheese as well.
If you ever venture out of your comfort zone please try a delicious Mexican style frittata such as this one.
This frittata is not as eggy as traditional ones are because of the moisture of all the veggies. I like mine that way because I don’t like a whole ton of egg so adjust accordingly. I also used some sliced peeled and seeded tomatoes on the bottom of the frittata for freshness. This recipe can be modified to do the same thing or just scrambled instead of the other steps its all delicious.
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1/2 small white onion minced
1 clove of garlic chopped
1/2 cup of chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 cups of prepared cactus
1 cup of chopped spinach
1/2 cup cotija cheese add more or less depending on how much cheese you like in your frittata (this is a strong cheese so taste it before you use it) it can be substituted with queso fresco or for milder flavors
8 eggs
1/4 cup milk
preheat oven to 400 degrees
Place oil in bottom of pan (either use an oven safe pan or you can transfer the vegetables to a 9 inch baking cake pan) on medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute till translucent, add tomatoes and cook for couple of minutes then add spinach and cook till wilted and most of the liquid is evaporated ad cactus and mix together till thoroughly combined add salt and pepper to about a pinch of each. Set aside with fire off. In a bowl mix together cracked eggs, milk, and cheese setting aside about a couple of tablespoons to sprinkle over the top.
Top the vegetable mixture with the egg mixture use a spatula to kind of pull away at the edges so the egg goes to the bottom of the pan sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the top and place in the oven for about 10 minutes
Flip out of pan and eat.
I hope you enjoy and even if you don’t maybe your exposed to something new.
A little reminder. If any food bloggers are interested.
As I’ve mentioned previously I am partaking in this wonderful food blogger event at Nancy’s blog spiciefoodie called Your Best Recipe. Each month i’ll post a link to spiciefoodies blog and she and many of my other fellow food bloggers come together that month to feature their favorite recipe they featured on their blog. Mine for this month are my Vegan clementine blueberry cupcakes with candied blueberry compote. This is a very important recipe to me so if you haven’t taken a look you should and you should also make the cakes, their awesome. If your a blogger please click this link and sign up to take part in the event yourselves. On the 30th i’ll post a link back to her post so you can check out the beautiful food others have made. Thank you Nancy for hosting this awesome event.
This is what the round up looked like for March YBR MARCH
Cheers guys
Much Gratitude
Unrivaledkitch