Huevos con Nopal de la Sierra Gorda

Queretaro's Sierra Gorda, from Pinal de Amoles down toward Jalpan, cooks with what the hill gives you: nopal, chile serrano, white onion, eggs from the patio, and herbs cut close to the kitchen door. This is not a grand fiesta dish. It is a morning dish, fast, green, and useful. A woman can put it on the table before the day starts asking too much of her.

The nopal is the ingredient that defines it. You dice it small and cook it first, without rushing, until the baba dries and the pieces turn olive green with clean edges. If you throw raw nopal into beaten eggs, you get slippery eggs. No me vengas con atajos. The women who perfected this knew exactly what they were doing: remove the excess liquid first, then bring in the manteca, onion, serrano, and egg.

I learned a version like this near the Mercado de la Cruz in Queretaro, from a senora who told me, 'El nopal se doma antes del huevo.' The cactus gets tamed before the egg. She was right. Serve it in a warm cazuelita or on a Dolores Hidalgo majolica plate, with corn tortillas and cafe de olla. Cada estado, su propia cocina.