Nopales en su Madre Queretanos con Camarón

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Horno de piedra or home oven with a preheated baking stone
• •Cast iron or clay comal
• •Wide 12-inch cazuela de barro, cured and food-safe
• •Sharp paring knife or nopal scraper
• •Heavy skillet for searing shrimp

Instructions

1. 1

   Heat the stone

   Heat a horno de piedra to strong baking heat, about 475F to 500F if you use a thermometer. For a home oven, set a baking stone or heavy sheet pan on the lowest rack and heat to 475F for at least 30 minutes. A cold oven gives you watery nopales. The stone heat tightens the cactus juices and browns the cheese.

2. 2

   Clean the cactus

   Check every nopal paddle, even if the market vendor cleaned them. Hold each paddle with a towel and scrape away any remaining thorns with the back of a knife. Trim the dry rim. Score the 6 whole paddles in a shallow crosshatch, not all the way through. The scoring lets salt and comal heat reach the flesh while the paddle still holds its shape.

3. 3

   Cook diced nopales

   Bring a pot of water to a simmer with the quartered onion, epazote, and 1 teaspoon salt. Add the diced nopales and cook uncovered for 10 to 12 minutes, until they turn olive green and release their baba. Drain and rinse briefly with warm water. Do not soak them. Water steals flavor.

   Baba is not dirt. It is cactus mucilage. You control it with uncovered cooking, epazote, and draining, not by boiling the nopal until it tastes dead.
4. 4

   Griddle whole paddles

   Heat a dry comal over medium-high. Lay the 6 whole nopales on the comal and cook 3 to 4 minutes per side, until they turn deep green, soften, and show dark freckles where the surface touched the clay or iron. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt. These paddles are the madre, the base that carries the rest of the dish.

5. 5

   Make xoconostle pico

   In a bowl, combine the tomatoes, diced xoconostle, finely diced onion, chile serrano, cilantro, lime juice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then drain off the excess liquid. The xoconostle should taste sharp enough to cut through the cheese. If all you have is sweet tuna, do not use it. That is another fruit.

   Xoconostle is the Otomí signature here. It is not tomatillo and it is not regular prickly pear. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
6. 6

   Sear the shrimp

   Pat the shrimp dry again. Melt the manteca de cerdo in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and stir for 15 seconds, just until fragrant. Add the shrimp, black pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook 60 to 90 seconds, until the edges turn pink but the centers still look slightly glossy. They finish in the oven. Overcooked shrimp bounce. We're cooking dinner, not rubber.

7. 7

   Build the cazuela

   Rub a wide cazuela de barro with a thin coat of manteca. Lay the griddled whole nopales across the bottom, overlapping slightly. Spoon the cooked diced nopales over them. Add the drained xoconostle pico, then the shrimp with its garlicky lard. Scatter the queso ranchero over the top in rough pieces, leaving some cactus edges visible. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.

8. 8

   Bake and brown

   Set the cazuela on the hot stone and bake 10 to 14 minutes, until the queso ranchero softens, browns in spots, the juices bubble at the edges, and the shrimp are opaque and firm. If the top needs more color, use the broiler for the last 1 to 2 minutes. Watch it. Queso ranchero goes from browned to dry fast.

   If your barro cazuela is not rated for direct high heat, use a heavy ceramic baking dish. A cracked cazuela teaches fast, but it wastes dinner.
9. 9

   Rest and serve

   Let the cazuela rest for 5 minutes so the cactus juices settle. Scatter a little fresh cilantro over the top. Serve from the cazuela with lime halves and warm hand-pressed corn tortillas. Each tortilla gets a piece of the mother nopal, some shrimp, pico, and browned queso. The juices at the bottom are for dragging tortillas. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy nopales that are firm, glossy, and not too thick. Old paddles are fibrous and will fight your knife. The market vendor should clean them in front of you, but you still check for thorns. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •Xoconostle is non-negotiable for the semidesert register. Look for it fresh in Mexican markets, frozen, or packed in jars without syrup. If you cannot find it, make another nopal dish. A substitution is a compromise, and here the compromise takes away the Otomí edge.
• •Fresh shrimp is the celebration version now in Querétaro markets. Dried shrimp is the older landlocked pantry logic, especially around Cuaresma. If you use dried shrimp, rinse it well, soak it for 20 minutes, use about 1 cup, and reduce the salt. It will taste stronger and more marine.
• •Queso ranchero should be salty, fresh, and crumbly in big pieces. Queso fresco will work outside Mexico, but it is a compromise, not an upgrade. Do not use cheddar. No me vengas con atajos.
• •Use the manteca de cerdo. It is only two tablespoons and it carries the garlic, shrimp, and cactus into one flavor. Vegetable oil leaves the dish thin. La manteca es el sabor.

Advance Preparation

• •The diced nopales can be cooked and the whole paddles griddled 1 day ahead. Refrigerate them uncovered for the first hour so extra moisture leaves, then cover.
• •The xoconostle pico can be chopped 2 hours ahead, but salt it only 10 minutes before assembling. Salt pulls water from the tomatoes.
• •The shrimp can be peeled and deveined up to 6 hours ahead and held cold. Sear them only when you are ready to assemble the cazuela.
• •Do not assemble the full dish far ahead. Nopales, tomato, and salt will throw liquid, and the cazuela will turn soupy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 380g)