From the Central Region of Mexico: Bistec con Nopales, Chorizo y Frijoles

This is the main course from our cooking class featuring food from the heart of Mexico: Bistec con Nopales, Chorizo y Frijoles

Bistec y Frijoles

‘Bistec‘ (beefsteak) is an inside round steak, sliced roulade-style, and marinated for several hours in a mix of oil, 2 limes, 4 crushed garlic cloves, 1/2 onion, oregano, salt, a jalapeño and black pepper.

marinating the ‘bistec‘

‘Frijoles’ are beans, in this case black beans.

black beans

‘Nopales’ are the paddles of the prickly pear. The red fruit, known as tunas, is also edible. These prickly treats grow all over the arid high plateau of the central region.

prickly pear with the fruit known as ‘tunas‘, at Tula, an archeological site just outside of Mexico City

Remove the spines from BOTH sides of the nopales (prickly pear paddles).

removing the spines from the nopales

Cut the eight nopales into ‘hands’ and grill.

the nopales are cut into ‘hands’ and grilled

Once grilled, slice through the ‘hands’ to create rajas or strips.

strips (rajas) of nopales

Fry the 200 gr sliced chorizo, nopal strips and 1/2 onion sliced into ‘plumes’.

fry the chorizo, nopal strips and onion

Cover the chorizo and nopales with a salsa made from soaked ancho chiles blended with garlic, onion and enough water to help deglaze the pan.

add red salsa to the chorizo/nopales/onion mix and simmer for 10 minutes

Grill the marinated bisteces and then serve atop the chorizo, nopales and chile mixture along with frijoles… ¡Qué rico!  A perfect comida to follow a trip exploring the archeological ruins of Tula, near Mexico D.F.

the volcanic stone face of one of the Toltec warriors or ‘Atlantids’ at Tula, Mexico. This site is about 50 km from Mexico City, and easily reached by local bus. The site was active from 800 to 1100 AD.

taking measure of the Atlantids

more cactus, in this case an agave, at Tula. This agave could end up as pulque (Aztec ‘beer’) or Mezcal!