Nopales Pizza

Nopales (No-pahl-ez) Pizza:

Nopales are the fleshy pads of the prickly-pear cactus.

Here in NC, we can buy them in the grocery store (food lion) as:

1. whole pads in the produce section, or
2. jars of de-thorned, thinly sliced strips in water with a few pearl onions (mexican food section)

if you get the whole pads, see the video below

1. preheat pizza stone
2. brush pizza dough with olive oil
3. pour a layer of salsa verde (tomatillo sauce),
4. add shredded nopales, sliced tomatillos*, mushrooms,
5. cover with a white cheese,
6. toss some cornmeal on the hot stone
7. then bake.

serve with jarritos grapefruit (pomelo) soda or negra modelo

* tomatillos look like green tomatoes but have a papery outer skin or husk. remove the husk. they're sticky to touch and tart in flavor.

See also:

• Audio from Morning Edition (Arizona)
• desert-usa
• wikipedia
• cooking video