![\"Salad](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.amyglaze.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/DSC_0126.jpg\" "\\"Shaved")
<\/a><\/p>\nShaved Carrot & Nopales Salad with Farm Cheese and Agave-Lime Vinaigrette<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The easiest way to prepare\u00a0nopales\u00a0into\u00a0nopalitos\u00a0(diced edible cactus) is to buy it freshly prepped and packaged. No joke. But if you’ve got cactus growing on your farm or in your backyard here’s what to do, go to:\u00a0Pati’s Mexican Table and read her method<\/a>\u00a0which I think works the best (and I love her blog besides). She also talks about how to choose the cactus paddle. I could paraphrase Chef Pati, but in her own words:<\/p>\n “Nopales are persnickety, their thorns are almost invisible, but a good clue is that wherever there is a bump there may be a thorn. Then, using a vegetable peeler or small sharp knife, pretty much as if they were asparagus, peel away the bumps and thorns, you may want to lean the nopales against a chopping board, and then rinse again. No need to peel off all of the outer dark green skin, in fact, try to keep as much as you can.”<\/em><\/p>\n Nopales when cooked are sticky. They secrete this clear goo that can be hard to get rid of and annoying when used unbaked in a salad (as opposed to a quiche where the goo will cook into the mixture). I blanch nopalitos first in boiling salted water, shock in ice water, and then saut\u00e9 with a little cooking oil in a smoking hot pan briefly until the mucous evaporates. I haven’t tried grilling them yet, although I hear that works well, and the smokiness from the grill would be awesome with this. Chef Pati prefers to saut\u00e9 nopalitos like mushrooms until the liquid evaporates and she skips the blanching.<\/p>\n Heirloom carrots from Pie Ranch<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Heirloom carrots are polar opposite of course to noplalitos, and sweet as candy. They are beautiful roasted, but this Spring they are so sugary eaten raw and their colors are popping in crimson, orange, yellow, and white; so why not let them be as they are….<\/p>\n You don’t need a mandolin always to get that cool shaved vegetable look. I use a non-serrated vegetable peeler for carrots and put my shaved slices directly in ice water which makes them curl up. They can keep this way for up to 2 days. Holding the carrot flat on a cutting board, use the peeler to shave the carrot from top to bottom with a little more pressure than normal. Smaller carrots will yield better bite-sized curls that aren’t too big and floppy. And I never pre-peel the crimson carrots before shaving them down because all that outer deep red color is lost.<\/p>\n Shaved Heirloom Carrots<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Making farm cheese from fresh milk straight from the cow is much easier than one would think. But I’m going save that for another post because you’re probably bored by my rambling and it’s a lengthy process even though it’s not too difficult. Queso or goat cheese would be a great sub if farm cheese is not something you whip up \u00e0 la minute<\/em> at home. I’m blessed to work in a rural setting amongst several organic dairy farms and everyone’s got their own farm cheese technique, so I mostly take what I can, where I can! Nopales and soft cheese are a great pairing. If you like pickles and cheese together, you’ll love cactus and cheese together.<\/p>\n Perhaps you’re thinking this is a simple salad that I’ve managed to totally over explain and over engineer. And you wouldn’t be wrong. But sometimes for me it’s the little ingredients, on their own, that get me so excited as opposed to the conglomeration. Thankfully I didn’t go on about the lettuce, and you know I really wanted to! Next time…<\/p>\n For more Nopales Recipes around the Blogosphere:<\/p>\n Cleaning and Cooking Cactus Paddles by Pati’s Mexican Kitchen<\/a><\/p>\n How To Cook Cactus Paddles by Mexico in My Kitchen<\/a><\/p>\n Cactus and Corn Salsa by Simply Recipes<\/a><\/p>\n Huevos con Nopales y Cilantro (Eggs with nopales and cilantro) by Hungry Sofia<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n